Austin’s rising population of people experiencing homelessness was the top priority of City Council heading into 2020 but took a backseat as the pandemic spread locally.
Austin’s mayor and City Council said they wanted to begin seeing actionable timelines and progress made in 2021 on helping people exit homelessness.
The city will refocus its hotel and motel conversion strategy it began at the end of 2019 to offer transitional housing and social services to its homeless population. During the pandemic, the city leased five motels as “protective lodging” sites aimed at keeping people experiencing homelessness off the streets and out of crowded shelters. Those will remain open into 2021.
Meanwhile, local and state efforts to reinstate a camping ban in Austin continue. Gov. Greg Abbott said Jan. 21 he expects to announce a plan that would ban camping statewide, and a local group submitted a petition in January that, if approved, would put the question of reinstating the local ban to voters in May.
