Austin's homeless residents left with nowhere to go amid camping crackdown

[TexasTowelie]

by Joshua Fechter, Texas Tribune


By the time city crews demolished Austin’s most prominent homeless encampment, Dominek Palmer and her husband, Charles Taylor, had already tried to leave.

Two weeks ago, police cited Palmer and Taylor for violating the city’s voter-approved ban on homeless encampments — for sleeping in their car under Interstate 35 at the intersection of Seventh Street downtown.

When they tried to drive somewhere else, Palmer said, their car ran out of gas on a nearby hill.

The morning of Sept. 29, the camp’s remaining residents were told to leave under threat of arrest as crews with the Austin Public Works Department removed at least two dozen tents. Austin police parked a paddy wagon at the encampment — which was right across the street from police headquarters.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/10/06/austin-camping-ban-homeless/

[wryter2000]

1. In Oakland

There's an area under the freeway interchange not far from Kaiser Hospital. There have been homeless encampments there in the past. Now the city has put up fences so people can't get in there to get out of the rain. When we have rain.

Why isn't the solution to find them a place to live or at least camp out? Why do they think the solution is to make the good spots impossible to use?

For crying out loud, everyone has to be somewhere. You can't wish them out of existence.

[IbogaProject]

2. their goal is just to pass the buck

Austin's goal is just to pass the buck and displace the homeless to somewhere else, or at least somewhere less visible.