Save Austin Now to get rehearing on enforcement of Prop B

Save Austin Now, the group that pushed for and won an election to make the city enforce a ban on camping among homeless residents, has won a victory at the 3rd Court of Appeals. Save Austin Now filed suit in early 2023 alleging that the city was not enforcing the camping ban, which was reinstated by voters as Proposition B in 2021. Prop B re-criminalized lying down on a public sidewalk and sleeping outdoors downtown and near the University of Texas.

District Judge Amy Clark Meachum ruled in 2023 that the plaintiffs lacked standing and therefore the court lacked jurisdiction over the matter. The appellate court agreed on the question of standing but said the judge should have allowed the plaintiffs to replead their case and have another hearing.

It will be up to the plaintiffs – Robert Mayfield, Laura North, Stuart Dupuy and Bob Woody – all of whom own Austin businesses, to offer new reasons that the court should consider their lawsuit. Those plaintiffs allege that that the city is refusing to enforce the camping ban and “as a result, unnamed individuals are committing various criminal acts on and or near their business property.”

ECHO, the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, estimated that 5,308 people were experiencing homelessness last September. New data is expected to come out this spring after the January point-in-time count.

On Monday, David Gray, the city’s homeless strategy officer, told the Public Safety Commission that the Austin Police Department closed more than 1,200 homeless campsites last year. Those were enforcement actions, and the Homeless Strategy Office was not involved in that. City data indicates that since June 2021, officers have issued about 1,200 citations and arrests.

At the same time, Gray said the city conducted 12 coordinated removals and relocations under the HEAL initiative. He said it took two to three days to move all the inhabitants from each site and their belongings to a new location together. Another four nearby camps were also closed under the HEAL initiative for a total of 16 camps removed. He said about “80 percent of those we come in contact with” in the homeless camps will accept the city’s offer of help.

Last week, the City Council reiterated its support for housing people experiencing homelessness.

Although they applauded the ruling that will allow them to replead their case, Save Austin Now complained in a press release about how long it took the court of appeals to issue a ruling.

In that statement, Save Austin Now co-chairs Matt Mackowiak and Steven Brown said, “It is outrageous that it took 549 days to receive this ruling from the 3rd Court of Appeals. But today provides clarity and new options for us. At a time when the city of Austin just passed $350M in new homeless spending without an outside audit on past homeless spending, it is critical that we see Prop B fully enforced. Austin voters spoke clearly, and we intend to ensure that Prop B is enforced. Enforcement of the camping ban will improve public safety, public health and tourism, and benefit every neighborhood, every park and trail, every school, and every major intersection in our city. The fight continues.”

The Austin Monitor reported that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is sending Austin and Travis County $14 million to help address homelessness. That’s $2 million more than last year and will support 16 local projects aimed at ending homelessness.

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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