The city announced that Michelle Myles will serve as the program manager. Previously, she served in the Austin Public Health Homeless Services Division.
Until city staff submit its report in June, it remains unclear if any of the campsites will be removed from the potential list (Courtesy of the Black Leaders Collective)
After last week s widely panned release of a long preliminary list of city-owned properties that could be designated as sanctioned campsites for people experiencing homelessness,
City Council has shown some sympathy for the staffers who had little direction and a tight timeline for their effort. But members are still befuddled as to how some locations could ever be considered. A historic Black cemetery? The vacant Home Depot whose neighbors spent years working with the city on plans for its future? The Colony Park tracts with an ambitious public-private master plan for community revitalization, which has yet to break ground on a single project?
UpdatedFri, May 7, 2021 at 2:00 pm CT
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The resolution will direct the city manager to expedite the development and implementation of community violence prevention and intervention programs this fiscal year and to present options to increase funding for such programs in 2021-2022. (Shutterstock)
AUSTIN, TX Austin City Council has approved a resolution to expedite the development and implementation of community violence prevention and intervention programs.
The resolution item was passed by council on Thursday and will direct the city manager to expedite the development and implementation of community violence prevention and intervention programs this fiscal year and to present options to increase funding for such programs in 2021-2022.
Austin voters are now getting their say at the ballot box on the city s controversial policies on homeless camping.
Proposition B takes center stage in Saturday s city election, giving residents the voice they did not have two years ago when the Austin City Council made it lawful to camp in most public spaces by canceling a 23-year-old ordinance that had prohibited it.
If approved, Proposition B could eliminate the growing number of tent encampments in high-traffic areas by reinstating criminal penalties and forcing the unsheltered residents to find somewhere else to stay. The city and partnering organizations have initiated short-term and long-term plans to increase the inventory of available shelter and housing options for people experiencing homelessness. For now, however, they do not have nearly enough to offer one to everyone in need.