Housing in Brief: Eviction Crisis Imminent as Moratorium Ends Nationwide nextcity.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nextcity.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A week after city-owned properties in their council districts were identified as possibilities for sanctioned homeless encampments, Austin City Council members Paige Ellis and Natasha Harper-Madison made a formal request aimed at keeping that from happening.
The two council members on Tuesday issued a plea for the city to rethink its plan to create sanctioned encampments, referring to it as a band-aid tactic and making the case for other options, like supportive housing.
Ellis and Harper-Madison were previously part of a unanimous council vote in May that directed staff to look into the feasibility of identifying city-sanctioned sites where homeless people could live following voter approval of a citywide camping ban during the May 1 election.
KUT
Austin s homeless strategy officer said an extensive community-engagement process is needed before the city moves ahead with sanctioned encampments.
After three months of planning, an effort to set up two temporary homeless encampments on city land could be off the table.
At an Austin City Council work session Tuesday, city staff said the projects would be costly and might be prohibited if they re not in place before a state law banning encampments goes into effect Sept. 1. The new law requires the city to get permission from the state to set up encampments on city-owned land.
The plan was also met with skepticism from Mayor Pro Tem Natasha Harper-Madison and Council Member Paige Ellis. The proposed encampments are in their districts, District 1 and District 8, respectively. Council members began looking into the plan in May, shortly after Austin voters reinstated a ban on encampments.
Report from APD shows spike in murders, aggravated assaults
Report from APD shows spike in murders, aggravated assaults
These reports are formally called Monthly Chief s Reports even though we currently have an interim chief. The report details numbers through May of this year.
AUSTIN, Texas - Violent crime is becoming more visible in Austin, and it s not just optics. It s in the numbers. We have almost as many murders right now as we had for all of 2020 and we are only halfway through the year, said Cary Roberts, executive director of The Greater Austin Crime Commission.
In the Austin police chief s latest monthly report, they reported a spike in murders and aggravated assaults.
Waterloo Park reopens in August with community day, Gary Clark Jr show statesman.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from statesman.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.