Items 24 and 25 on November 6th Council Agenda

[Jose Velasquez]

Colleagues,

I have heard from many of my constituents about the need for more compassionate and robust street outreach and we, as a city, are far overdue at addressing these needs adequately.

This is why I am bringing forward two resolutions this week - Items 24 and 25 - that I have been working on closely with the Austin Homeless Strategy Office (HSO). These resolutions direct the city manager to present a plan to strengthen street outreach operations, coordination, and processes.

Ultimately, Items 24 and 25 aim to reduce harms that may accompany outreach initiatives when housing opportunities and social services are not offered to individuals, and when transparency with community partners is not prioritized during encampment management.

I am grateful for the co-sponsors and the many stakeholders who have helped strengthen these items to put Austinites experiencing homelessness, and those who serve Austin’s unhoused community, at the forefront.

I look forward to our discussion on Thursday.

Item 24 V2 - http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 155528.pdf
Item 25 V2 - http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 155249.pdf

a sus ordenes,

CMJV

[Ryan Alter]

Colleagues, I agree. These past few weeks, we’ve seen the danger of encampment response without compassionate outreach. I’ve long supported the work for a Homeless Encampment Management Dashboard, which provides necessary transparency to service providers, advocates, and the public.

Council Member Velasquez, thank you for bringing these items. I look forward to supporting them on Thursday.

Ryan