, which leads to arrest warrants and criminal histories that make it even harder to find housing and employment.“One of the great difficulties is homelessness is not a law enforcement issue,” he said. “I spend a lot of my time convincing my officers we can do this.”
The Parks and Recreation Department wrote in an operations plan obtained by The Texas Tribune that because shelters and housing programs were full, none of the people in the camp would be offered shelter during the cleanup, which would cost an estimated $30,000 and would likely push people “only a short distance from the current encampment.”That’s exactly what happened.
Another new housing complex run by Caritas of Austin, called Espero at Rutland, will likely begin moving people in early next year, according to CEO Jo Kathryn Quinn. That project, which is part of the city’s housing effort, will house another 100 people experiencing homelessness. Other hotel conversions and new construction projects are also underway.
At Guerrero park, the encampment has been steadily shrinking. On a recent morning, areas that had been full of tents and furniture were empty, with flattened patches of grass the only sign that people had been living there. City crews had hauled away garbage and debris. Steve at his living space in the Guerrero Park encampment. He visited on Aug. 18 to collect some of his belongings after being given a room in a former hotel that the city converted into a temporary shelter.Steve, who is 67 and did not give his full name, said he has lived in Austin for 40 years and used to run a tire business. But housing had become unaffordable for him, and a couple of years ago “things fell apart,” he said, and he wound up homeless.
They can move to California
Go get a job. That's where they need to go