Government
BY BEN THOMPSON & CHLOE YOUNG
Austin begins new homeless encampment approach
Judge shares county initiative updates Travis County Judge Andy Brown shared updates on several major county initiatives at April’s State of the County Address. What happened A 2024 voter-approved tax rate increase for a ordable child care has now awarded more than $30 million, including $13 million for after-school care and summer programs and $4.1 million for small business child care assistance approved by county commission- ers in May. Looking ahead, Brown noted the largest addition to the county’s park system coming east of I-35, 1,300 acres on Wilbarger Creek. It’ll preserve the creek’s greenway from P ugerville to the county line, he said. Brown also said the county will create a new museum district centered around the historic Heman Marion Sweatt Courthouse downtown. That initiative stems from a partnership between The University of Texas School of Architecture and county Commissioner Je Travillion.
The scope and frequency of public homeless encampment clearings is increasing. The big picture Public camping is illegal in Austin under both Proposition B, a local ban reinstated by city voters in 2021, and a Texas law passed the same year. City enforcement ramped up after Proposition B’s passage and has continued since then, includ- ing a three-week Austin Homeless Strategies and Operations initiative last October. But widespread encampments and high public demand to address them outstripped available resources, leading to this spring’s recalibration. Austin elds more than 700 monthly 3-1-1 requests related to encampments, and the city’s management program was only active three days per week. The update Starting May 11, several dedicated encampment management teams began working citywide ve days a week. Most involve Austin Police Depart- ment o cers and other city department sta , and one Austin Parks and Recreation-led team focuses on litter removal. The city released a preliminary list of dozens of encampments to close in April and will continue to update the public about the status of those sites, as well as new areas being addressed. What else? Additional options for residents to submit service requests and track the city’s response are in the works. One change coming later this year is the
Encampment closures The city will only clear away encampments after advance noti cation and the o er of support services. Site identi ed through service requests or reports Step 1
Step 2 Site assessed for health, safety and environmental impacts
Step 3 Site prioritized based on public risks and city response capacity
Step 4 Outreach to individuals at encampment
Step 5 72-hour notice of planned encampment clearing
Step 6 Encampment cleanup and site restoration
“These investments in our downtown, in our parks and
SOURCE: CITY OF AUSTIN COMMUNITY IMPACT
in our people are how we build real economic resilience.” ANDY BROWN, TRAVIS COUNTY JUDGE
addition of a dedicated 3-1-1 service option for public encampments. And as previously directed by City Council, Austin’s homeless strategy o ce will also be launching an encampment manage- ment dashboard with mapping and other data available to the public.
911 response improves, shortfalls persist in Austin Austin’s handling of 911 calls has rebounded from a recent “crisis” of low sta ng and high response times, but some elected o cials say city leadership still hasn’t taken strides to x long- standing emergency communications problems.
Austin 911 call responses Rates improved as the city addressed vacancies at the 911 call center. Call answer rate Call taker vacancy rate
The big picture Following a 45% vacancy rate in 2023, so far in 2026, nearly 98% of calls to APD were answered in 15 seconds. Despite the improvement, Laine said the city’s public safety brie ng failed to address other “persistent” issues, such as poor coordina- tion, longer response times in outlying neighbor- hoods and a delay in strategic plans to combine police, re and EMS dispatchers into a proposed Joint Emergency Communications Department.
100% 80%
60% 40% 20% 0%
“It is an area in which I had feared that there was inadequate strategic focus by our city, and so far today those fears have been proven well- founded,” council member Krista Laine said after a May 12 brie ng.
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026*
SOURCE: CITY OF AUSTIN COMMUNITY IMPACT NOTE: ANSWER RATE BASED ON ANSWER WITHIN 15 SECONDS. *JANUARY APRIL ONLY
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NORTHWEST AUSTIN EDITION
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