That’s according to an operational report publicized on Monday, July 6 by the Austin Homeless Strategies and Operations division, which outlined a unified effort between its Homeless Encampment Management (HEM) and Street and Community Outreach (SCO) initiatives between early May and early June. Running from May 11 through June 5, teams visited 127 individual encampment sites across Austin, with 456 total visits made when accounting for repeat stops.
From those 456 total visits, crews removed a whooping 669,368 pounds’ worth of debris, or 303.62 tons. Within those same outreach efforts, crews connected 35 people experiencing homelessness to city shelter services and provided supportive services connections to nine individuals who had denied shelter access.
Just 50% of people experiencing homelessness contacted by outreach teams accepted help, with 44 other people denying access to shelter and supportive services, per the city report.
“Our team is working with all the departments to provide insight into resource utilization and the scale of interdepartmental support required to implement and sustain this initiative,” the memo read in part. “Costs are anticipated to decrease over time as the number of large encampments and associated debris removal decreases.”
MySA reached out to the City of Austin for additional details on the costs affiliated with the monthlong initiative; a city spokesperson confirmed specifics on cost estimates related to these outreach efforts are still being finalized and are not available at this time.
As for repeat activity, 28% of the total encampment sites cleared had people return to those sites for shelter, the report added. Nonprofit organization Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) found at least 6,235 people experienced homelessness in both Austin and Travis County, with the vast majority (5,020 people) living unsheltered in tents, cars, abandoned buildings and other sites and the remaining 1,215 people residing in emergency shelters and transitional housing.