Residents of Texas’ capitol city could soon be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in new spending on services to vagrants.
According to KXAN, the Austin City Council will consider a resolution declaring vagrancy a “top financial priority.” This would require the city to make hundreds of millions of dollars of commitments beyond current law.
The budget resolution is based upon a report by Austin Echo, which claims the city needs to spend at least $350 million more than current law requires to meet needs just for building out beds or units alone. The report proposes building several forms of subsidized housing. Proponents claim this will reduce the vagrant population.
Austin Echo is a homeless services provider that could benefit from increased spending in this area.
The proposed expenditures are at a time when the “homelessness services industrial complex” has drawn national criticism. Critics charge that the homeless are used as human shields to disguise old-fashioned political patronage.
The measure in question is the latest development in Austin’s long saga with public vagrancy. In 2021, following a disastrous 2019 legalization of homeless camping in nearly all areas of the city, Austin voters reimposed the previous ordinance by referendum. That same year, the Texas legislature enacted a law prohibiting homeless camping statewide.
While public vagrancy is less acute in Austin than before, it remains at elevated levels.
The Austin City Council will consider the resolution this Thursday, January 30.
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