Austin Residents Can’t Agree on How to Fix the Homelessness Crisis

It's not just an Austin problem by a long shot. This is happening in a lot of cities, including my own.

"as your safety declines so does your compassion" truth

"As your safety declines so does your compassion." Well said.

I've lived next to a tent city for 22 years. I've seen it waiver and grow throughout the years as politics change but no "solution". The longer you live near it the more you begin to see the different kinds of people that get in a homeless situation and the harder it is to thin of a uniform solution for all homelessness. I've seen families, veterans, the disabled, drug addicts, and more all on the street. They all need a different type of care.

Let them camp on government property and the streets where our politicians live.

Ridiculously high rents all over America need to stop. I work my ass off weekdays and weekends and always breaking even. Work WAY too hard to never get ahead in any way. Good news report Vice.

Our Big Tech overlords could fund permanent housing for every one of them with their pocket change. Your presence in Austin is driving this problem.

As a student of Austin, Ive been homeless for the last month. Rent too high and pay isnt enough even though I work 40-50 hours a week. I feel for the homeless population - Im getting a new place soon but as much as I wanna continue my education here I cant if everything gets more expensive.

“Nobody wants to live here anymore.” Housing prices rise 40% in 5 years.

40 years ago, I was homeless for a period of time. I was actually among the working homeless. I just needed to save enough money for the initial costs of a place. I set a camp in a wooded area unseen by everyone. It was in an unused, urban wild area. But I guess that someone saw me enter or exit the wooded area. Cops came, even complimented me on how organized and clean things were. They said that they would arrest me if they saw me there again. The city had a zero tolerance policy toward the homeless, regardless of where they were. I had to take a day off work to move my camp. I was fortunate to have a sympathetic manager. I see the issues of letting homeless be anywhere and unfettered. But going too far in the opposite direction is also problematic.

I let one homeless person live in my extra room. It’s been three years and he pays rent has a job and is now part of my family. I will let him live with us till the end. That’s how it’s done.

Oh look, it's where I live. Yeah, it was REALLY bad. They passed the homelessness "ban" and things are a lot better now, but it probably wasn't very great for the cops who had to tell the homeless to leave, and the homeless who have to constantly move. I have no idea where they went... I've heard the problem was that we started getting a lot of homeless people from out of Austin PLUS the pandemic created a homeless crisis basically. We barely had resources for them before all this. Austin is going downhill. I used to love this place, now buying a house is unaffordable, there's too many entitled rich people, and the homeless population has exploded. Austin had always been a liberal city and it's been fine. But recently it's become more corporate than anything else, and that's what's killing it. California isn't some liberal paradise, it's a corporate hellscape, and that's where Austin is headed.

As of this weekend, Austin passed a bill that no one can camp in Austin anymore.

This is a double edged sword for me...you feel sorry for homeless and yet, i still get the point of the residents...it's not their fault that they want a safe place for their children.

Put up Modular housing. We’ve done it in Vancouver and it’s helpful. It takes a fraction of the time to put together and can be taken apart when permanent housing is ready.

That guy totally voted for it. He’s just only saying he’ll vote against it because he’s on tv

The mayor is fine with it, just as long as it’s not outside on his front lawn

Unfortunately a lot of cities don't look at solving the actual homelessness but more in how well they can conceal the homelessness issue from view.

Wait, so Texas can pass anti-mask and anti-abortion laws yet they have this homeless problem booming? They couldn't see that this was a more important issue than what they prioritized?

Im baffled how the US has money and lots of it for it's military but no money for it's homeless