#austinte

Election Day: Saturday, May 1

Early Voting: Friday, April 19 - Saturday, April 27

Last Day to Register to Vote: Thursday, April 1

Check Your Voter Info & Register at votetravis.com

What is Prop B?

In May 2021, Austin voters will decide on whether or not to reinstate The Camping Ban, which would make it illegal to camp in public spaces, to sit/lie down in some outdoor spaces, and to panhandle at night.

The language is:

“Shall an ordinance be adopted that would create a criminal offense and a penalty for sitting or lying down on a public sidewalk or sleeping outdoors in and near the Downtown area and the area around the University of Texas campus; create a criminal offense and penalty for solicitation, defined as requesting money or another thing of value, at specific hours and locations or for solicitation in a public area that is deemed aggressive in manner; create a criminal offense and penalty for camping in any public area not designated by the Parks and Recreation Department?”

This essentially means it would be a criminal offense to camp, sleep/lie down, and/or panhandle in certain places and times in Austin.

For many of our unhoused neighbors, there are simply no options for shelter or income in the city and many are forced to live on the street.

With nowhere else to go and no hopes of other income, Prop B would make it illegal to be a person experiencing homelessness in large parts of the city.

Affected Areas

Prop B would make it a criminal offense to camp in public, sit/lie in public, and panhandle at night in the areas within the red square. 

Via KUT

This area runs from 38th street south to Cesar Chavez and from N. Lamar east to I-35. It also goes around Oakwood Cemetary, and to Chicon street from E. 7th Street to E. Cesar Chavez. 

History of the Camping Ban

note: it has been fairly difficult to dig up old articles to research and provide context. this history is a summary of what I could find but isn’t a full or complete telling of events. 

The Camping Ban was first instated on January 25th, 1996. This ordinance made it class C misdemeanor to sleep, store personal belongings, cook, or start fires in public areas. There were an estimated 6,000 houseless people on the streets in 1996 with a population of 548,000. (For context, there were an estimated 2,506 houseless people in Austin in 2020 with a population of 1,000,000.) Additionally, there was only one free houseless facility at this time, with just 128 beds and strict limitations on using the facility. ARCH didn’t open until 2004.

Mayor Bruce Todd first introduced the ordinance and it eventually passed with a 4-1 vote, with one council member abstaining and one council member absent. The council member who voted against the measure was Jackie Goodman, who stayed firm in this position throughout all her years on council. As were the rules, council had to pass this ordinance three times before it became law, January 25th, 1995 being the third time. 

In talks about whether or not to pass the measure, council member Gus Garcia stated in 1995 that “This ordinance is probably not the answer. This ordinance is not going to fix the problem. But we have to begin somewhere.” 

When it was officially passed in 1996, it was met with a 200 person protest. The loudest people in opposition of the ban were the houseless, the police, and local activists. Many people stated it was unconstitutional, a violation of houseless people’s rights, and unethical to displace people without somewhere for them to go.

Originally, the Austin Police opposed the ban because they didn't have the resources to enforce it and didn’t see it as a solution to the fundamental issue of houselessness. Lieutenant Michael Urubeck who was in charge of enforcing the ban stated “it’s not going to work in the long run.”  

Additionally, The Downtown Austin Alliance, who represented downtown businesses and supported the ordinance, boldly acknowledged in 1997 that "The purpose of the ordinance was to protect our public properties and as a preventative measure against public disorder, not the separate issue of the homeless." - Downtown Austin Alliance 1997

When it was first passed, city council also called for a review on it’s effectiveness. In 1997, they found that the camping ban "provided a tool for immediate relief of unwanted situations, but has failed to provide an effective deterrent or any permanent solution to the transient issue." (they called people experiencing homelessness “transients” back then.)

In 1997, there’s a couple articles showing that city council had plans to rescind the camping ban that year, however I was unable to find what actually happened after their plans. I skimmed through the July & August council meeting minutes but have not been able to find anything about repealing the ban. I think it’s safe to say that while talks were promising, the city elected to keep the ban. Additionally, there was lots of talks of building “homeless campuses” at this time but I have been unable to find whether or not they were actually built. Also I want to note that these campuses were often seen as separative and ways to push the houseless community somewhere else, aka not solutions. 

Anyways...

Since then, talks of repealing the camping ban have arisen time and time again, each time following very similar arguments: 

1. The camping ban doesn’t work in medicating the issue of houselessness in Austin 

2. The camping ban is morally bankrupt and borderline unconstitutional without giving people a place to go

3. The camping ban seeks to protect property, not people

Among advocates for rescinding the camping ban is Richard Troxell, who has been fiercely and loudly against the camping ban since the beginning in 1995. He regularly attended council meetings for years on end to speak up about it and has continued advocating against it to this day.

Why are we talking about this 27 years later?

Despite wish-washy support for the ban in it's inception in the 90s, the ban remained in place from 1996-2019. In July 2019, City Council voted 9-2 to repeal the camping ban with council members Alison Alter (D10) and Kathie Tovo (D9) voting against. Basically, this allowed unhoused people to legally sleep in public again.

Three months later in October 2019, city council voted to partially reinstate the camping ban. This measure further defined where camping would not be allowed, like within 15 feet of a residence or business or near ARCH/other shelters. With this partial ban, camping is still allowed outside of those areas.

In August 2020, an organization called Save Austin Now led by Travis County GOP chair Matt Mackowiak, submitted a petition to allow the public to vote to reinstate the camping ban. Initially, it was thrown out by the city clerk because it lacked the necessary number of signatures to be put on the ballot. 20,000 signatures are needed. They submitted 24,598 signatures (the lowest number of any recently filed citizen-led petition), but only 19,122 could be verified so the petition was thrown out.

However, in February 2021, Save Austin Now tried again and received the required 20,000 signatures to put the ban on the ballot. It has been widely stated that canvassers for Save Austin Now collected signatures using purposefully vague language, stating that their petition was one to "help the homeless" without providing signers the truthful information that the petition sought to reinstate the camping ban. Hundreds of signers were able to have their signatures removed after hearing about the manipulative cavassing, but not enough to keep the ban from the ballot.

Public Safety

Supporters of the camping ban say the ban is needed to protect public safety. How are the camping ban and public safety related?

People who argue the camping ban is needed for public safety seem to forget that unhoused people are part of the public. When you deny people shelter, even if that shelter is just a tent, you immediately endanger those people. They are more susceptible to theft, violence, and danger in general. Providing a safe environment for the unhoused is public safety.

Despite the repeal of the camping ban in 2019, the rate of violent crimes where the perpetrator was unhoused and the victim was housed decreased by 1% in 2019.

In fact, the rate of violent crimes where the perpetrator was housed and the victim was unhoused rose 7% in 2019, suggesting that it would be more likely for a housed citizen of Austin to commit violence against an unhoused person of Austin, and not the other way around.

There is no available data that shows that banning camping in public keeps the public safer.

“It looks like the least likely thing to happen with any violent crime involving a homeless individual is that it would be involving someone who is not homeless.” - Greg McCormack, Executive Director of Front Steps

Prop B Creates Criminal Records

Between 2016 and 2018, APD issued more than 10,000 citations to unhoused people who violated the camping ban. Most of these citations were issued for sitting or lying on a public sidewalk or outdoors. These citations cost up to $500. The average cost was about $160.

As can be expected, many unhoused people were unable to pay these fines. About 6 in every 10 citations issued resulted in arrest warrants after people failed to pay their fines in court.

With an arrest warrant on your record, it is measurably more difficult to qualify for essential services like housing and employment. Prop B would make the homelessness problem in Austin worse.

"Having tickets, arrests and warrants associated with these ordinances, sets people back from the goal of escaping homelessness; it prevents them from getting jobs and housing, and the vast majority of folks are trying to get out of homelessness. They are trying to get services, housing and employment so that they can get a roof over their head and restart their lives." - Chris Harris, Just Liberty

Why You Should Vote No on Prop B

1. Prop B criminalizes poverty.

Sitting, panhandling, and camping in public are often an unavoidable realities for those experiencing extreme poverty. To be criminalized for  not having a house to sleep in is morally bankrupt. No one should be forced to carry a criminal record just because they're poor. 

2. Prop B does not offer solutions to homelessness.

By making it illegal to camp in certain areas, the camping ban seeks to push the unhoused population out of main city areas without providing anywhere for them to go, or any actionable solution for the homelessness problem as a whole. The broader issues of inequality and poverty are not addressed in Prop B, and voting yes would only further endanger people experiencing homelessness.

3. Prop B would make it more difficult to escape poverty.

It is much more difficult to qualify for housing and employment opportunities when one has a criminal record. By criminalizing homelessness, unhoused people are more likely to get criminal records that would prevent them from accessing essential resources that are vital to transition from homelessness thus feeding the cycle that seeks to keep poor people poor.

Shelter beds in Austin: 812 Unhoused people in Austin: 2,500

The Housing Authority of The City of Austin waitlist for public housing has been closed since 2018. When it's open, the wait is 5-10 years.

The Housing Authority of The City of Austin waitlists for public housing at two other sites have also been closed since 2019 and 2020 and also have excessively long wait times.

The average wait time for housing through the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs is more than 3 years.

experiencing homelessness is not a crime. vote no on prop b.

research is work! buy me a coffee?

Sources:

votetravis.com

What is Prop B? Source

https://www.austintexas.gov/news/council-orders-elections-eight-propositions-may-1-2021

Affected Areas Sources

https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/1459657/?utm_source=showcase&utm_campaign=visualisation/1459657

https://www.kut.org/austin/2021-02-04/the-city-clerk-has-okd-save-austin-nows-petition-to-reinstate-homelessness-bans-teeing-up-a-may-referendum

History of the Camping Ban Sources

https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/1996-02-16/530585/

https://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Planning/Demographics/population_history_pub.pdf

https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2020/05/austin-sees-10-year-high-in-the-number-of-people-experiencing-homelessness/#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20people%20experiencing%20homelessness%20in%20Austin%20hit%20a,25.

https://austin.culturemap.com/news/city-life/01-15-20-austin-population-explode-past-1-million-by-summer-2020/

https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/1997-07-04/529209/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=59736855&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjM1NzAyNDMwMCwiaWF0IjoxNjEzMDg2NTk4LCJleHAiOjE2MTMxNzI5OTh9.kR_Q35oymBXM41oMWIs2zRUjL-V0i6E0NY98ubRiWnw

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/1997/06/16/story1.html

https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/1997-07-04/529210/

http://www.austintexas.gov/content/archive-council-meetings-held-1997

Why are we talking about this 27 years later? Sources

https://www.statesman.com/news/20190621/city-council-rescinds-measures-that-critics-say-criminalize-homelessness

https://www.kut.org/austin/2019-10-29/as-austin-rolls-out-its-revised-camping-and-resting-bans-the-future-is-uncertain

https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2020-08-05/save-austin-now-petition-to-reinstate-camping-ban-fails/

https://www.kut.org/austin/2021-02-04/the-city-clerk-has-okd-save-austin-nows-petition-to-reinstate-homelessness-bans-teeing-up-a-may-referendum

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/where-the-push-for-a-new-austin-homeless-shelter-stands-now/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CHowever%2C%20Austin%20currently%20only%20has,related%20to%20homelessness%20over%202019.

https://affordablehousingonline.com/housing-authority/Texas/Housing-Authority-of-the-City-of-Austin/TX001#wl108037

https://affordablehousingonline.com/housing-authority/Texas/Texas-Department-of-Housing-and-Community-Affairs/TX901

Public Safety Source

https://www.statesman.com/news/20200209/violent-crimes-with-homeless-suspects-victims-went-up-in-2019-data-show

Prop B Creates Criminal Records Sources

https://www.kut.org/austin/2019-06-20/most-tickets-for-homelessness-result-in-arrest-warrants-that-can-make-finding-housing-hard

https://www.kut.org/austin/2015-10-05/no-sit-no-lie-citations-handed-out-by-the-thousands-and-most-go-unpaid

Vote No Sources

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/where-the-push-for-a-new-austin-homeless-shelter-stands-now/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CHowever%2C%20Austin%20currently%20only%20has,related%20to%20homelessness%20over%202019.

https://affordablehousingonline.com/housing-authority/Texas/Housing-Authority-of-the-City-of-Austin/TX001#wl108037

https://affordablehousingonline.com/housing-authority/Texas/Texas-Department-of-Housing-and-Community-Affairs/TX901

Additional Reading:

Mapping Out a Solution: Austin’s Homeless Task Force