CITY & COUNTY
News from Austin, Dripping Springs & Travis County
Austin tests income program
Travis County officials look at ballooning jail population
The city is piloting a program to give families facing housing insecurity $1,000 per month. GUARANTEED MONTHLY INCOME PILOT PROGRAM
BY DARCY SPRAGUE
BY BEN THOMPSON
several speakers pointed out that the data shows Black people are significantly overrepresented in the jail population compared to the population of Travis County and criticized the lack of coverage on racial inequity in the report. As of May 11, Black people made up 34.85% of the jail population and 8.9% of Travis County’s population, according to county and Census data. “What we would love to see is a policy focused around [racial equity and decarceration] rather than explanations for how and why we got to this point,” said Amanda Woog, executive director at Texas Fair Defense Project. “Explanations that are surface level and when you start to scratch the surface they’re not entirely true.” Commissioners did not take action on the item.
AUSTIN The city is set to begin a one-year trial run of a program that will provide 85 Austin families with $1,000 monthly checks over the course of a year following an 8-1 City Council vote May 5. The $1.18 million guaranteed income pilot was initially funded in Austin’s fiscal year 2021-22 budget approved last August. Mayor Steve Adler, who sponsored the budget item and supported the program outline this spring, said it represents a possible way to reduce homelessness in Austin by investing in families at the highest risk of losing their housing. “We spend so much money trying to get people out of tents and into homes,” Adler said. “It’ll be a lot less expensive if we can find some way to keep people from ending up in the tent in the first place.”
TRAVIS COUNTY The jail pop- ulation at the Travis County Cor- rectional Complex has increased significantly in 2022, according to county officials. At a May 3 presentation to Com- missioners Court, Valerie Hollier, a planning project manager with the county’s justice and public safety division, cited higher numbers of arrests for first- and second-degree felonies, longer average stay times, an increased focus on arresting individuals with aggravated assault warrants, changes to state bond law, longer wait times to for state hospitals beds and pandemic- related slowdowns in courts. According to a Travis County report, 46% more individuals were in jail between May 13, 2021 and April 21, 2022. Following the presentation,
85 families $1,000 a month
ONE YEAR pilot program
$1.18 MILLION cost to fund program
SOURCE: CITY OF AUSTIN/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
Adler proposed several additional directives tied to the program’s launch, including selecting families facing homelessness, and involving a third- party monitor to determine the pilot’s level of success. “If it keeps people out of falling into our streets, then it’s successful. And if it doesn’t, then it’s not,” he said.
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