City staff said between May 11 and June 5, they visited 127 unique encampment sites.
AUSTIN, Texas — We’re getting a better picture of how homeless encampment sweeps are going in Austin after the city ramped up clearing operations earlier this year.
In a memo to the mayor and city council, city staff said between May 11 and June 5, they visited 127 unique encampment sites.
They went to some of them multiple times, and they were able to get 35 people connected with a shelter. Nine other people didn’t accept going to a shelter, but they did get connected to other support services, like behavioral health, housing navigation and case management. Another 44 people were offered help but didn’t accept it.
The city also removed more than 300 tons of debris from those camp sites.
City staff said reports to 311 are the main driving factor for their visits to encampments. The average time from a 311 request to when city staff initially assess a site is about five days.
A coordinated effort across departments
The plan, developed by the Austin Homeless Strategies and Operations(HSO) department, calls for a multi-department response. It involves 42 staff members, including personnel from the Austin Police Department (APD), Resource Recovery and outreach teams.
City officials said the goal is to connect people experiencing homelessness with services before clearing encampments. Individuals receive outreach and a 72-hour notice to vacate before crews move in.
A city map shows approximate locations of encampments identified for potential sweeps. Several of those sites are near key service providers, raising concerns about how displacement could impact access to help.