Mayor: Build more shelters and maybe we'll clear the sidewalks

In a previous article we reported that Mayor Steve Adler's plan all along was to build a homeless shelter in each district of the city. The recent, allowed explosion of homeless encampments over the summer was a tactic to make the problem more visual -- rather than hidden inside homeless camps in wooded areas -- and, we would assume, make the case for a major boost in public funding.

That plan is now starting to unfold and the overall picture is becoming clearer.

This morning, the Mayor and Council released a document previewing the next phase of the city's efforts to attempt to alleviate homelessness. In short: if Austinites behave (e.g. devote enough tax dollars to build new shelters and transition homes) then they can have their public spaces back.

KTBC-TV's (FOX 7) Casey Claiborne broke the story this morning of the preview document, which was this morning posted to the City Council's publicly view-able message board. Read the whole document here. We include some relevant text below, with a few edits for emphasis and due to formatting limitations:

City of Austin: Ask Questions About Homeless Camp Cleanups, You May Be Helping Terrorists

A lifelong Austin resident and former City Council candidate had a few questions about the infamous homeless camping ordinance.

She filed an open records request to the city, asking for the cost of cleanups for homeless camps and which dates the cleanings are scheduled.

The response from the city included an inquiry to the Texas Office of Attorney General, which cited a portion of the state government code:

"Those documents or portions of documents in the possession of governmental entity are confidential if they identify the technical details of particular vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure to an act of terrorism." (emphasis ours)

Austin Mayor Allows 'Adlervilles' To Spread To Build 10 New Homeless Shelters

The solidly liberal Austin, Texas, City Council and Mayor Steve Adler rolled the dice on its homelessness policy this summer.

Before going on vacation, the City Council lifted regulations which prevent camping in public places -- the wildly unpopular "homeless camping ordinance" which led to the rise of what are being colloquially referred to as "Adlervilles."

Since then, there has been an explosion of homeless camps at highway underpasses, in front of public buildings and businesses, on pedestrian rights-of-way, along with a sharp uptick in violence -- particularly near the city's downtown homeless resource center, but in places this activity has never been as-prevalent before.

This comes on the heels of controversy over opening a second, $8.6 million homeless shelter in largely residential South Austin. But that's not where the plans stop. At the last Council meeting (June 20), according to Community Impact News each of the city's 10 Council districts are expected to have a shelter in the near future: