This week, Governor Abbott announced that state agencies will coordinate responses to hazardous homeless encampments that have become fixtures of sidewalks and parks across Austin. This move is a bold declaration that Texas will hold its cities to a higher standard of safety and care for people living on the street despite the dangers towards themselves and other residents.
Critics of law enforcement clearing homeless encampments tend to frame the issue as one of cruel policy responses to people who have no where else to go. Their implication is that if homeless people had somewhere else to go, such as a publicly subsidized apartment, they would leave homeless encampments. Not only has this rationale been turned aside by the United States Supreme Court, but many homeless people living on the street refuse offers of housing, and even more refuse offers of shelter or treatment even if space is available.
Most homeless people refuse help because of debilitating disorders, such as mental illness, criminality, or drug use, and not because they simply don’t have housing.
These individuals need our help. But that help cannot be solely voluntary. And help starts with enforcing basic standards of safety on city streets— to protect the wellbeing of the homeless and other residents alike.
Over the last five years, homelessness in Austin has gotten much worse, rising 32 percent. But the situation among Austin’s mentally ill and addicted homeless has become nothing less than a humanitarian disaster. The number of homeless people with mental illness living on the street has doubled and the number with addiction has increased 25 percent since 2019, according to the most recent data from the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development.
In comparison, over that period the number of homeless families living on the street has declined by half. Nearly all homeless families are living in shelters and not homeless encampments.
The homeless people who live on the street in Austin are over 80 percent male, 80 percent under 55 years old, and as many as 22 percent are registered sex offenders. Studies of unsheltered homeless populations across the country indicate that most have mental illness and addictions of varying degrees of severity, and roughly three-quarters have histories of long-term incarceration in a jail or prison. This combination of serious vulnerabilities presenting alongside serious criminal risk factors makes unregulated homeless encampments very dangerous for homeless people and residents alike.
Homeless people are much more likely to be victims of crime— and most crimes perpetrated against homeless people are by other homeless people. The goal should be ending the permissive, dangerous, and unhealthy practice of living on the street and encampments. Shelter and other services are required as well, but enforcement of bans against hazardous street camps are essential.
It also requires acknowledgment that many homeless people victimize themselves through dangerous drug use. The leading cause of death among the homeless in Austin is overdose, followed by accidents and diseases often associated with drug use. Thus, it is essential that homeless people are protected from predatory drug dealers who enable their own self destruction.
Governor Abbott understands that the lives of Austin’s most vulnerable are at stake alongside the safety of the broader community of the capital. His decisive actions will undoubtedly save lives and serves as a model for other states to look to.