AUSTIN, Texas — On Tuesday, the City of Austin said it helped a total of 60 individuals move from a South Austin homeless encampment to temporary bridge shelters as part of the Housing-Focused Encampment Assistance Link (HEAL) initiative.
HEAL carries out closures of Austin encampments that pose the highest public health and safety risks. This latest initiative helped move 60 people from an encampment at Pack Saddle Pass and U.S. Highway 71, the City said. People experiencing homelessness were offered transfer to shelter and connection to housing resources.
Last month, KVUE spoke with a salon owner near the encampment at Pack Saddle Pass and US Highway 71 who had seen an uptick in attacks. Laura North, the owner of Headspace Salon and Co-op, called on Austin police to respond quicker to active attacks and asked the City of Austin to move faster in finding housing for the homeless.
Enforcement presence at the encampment will be maintained while cleanup is conducted, the City said.
“The City’s HEAL Initiative provides a compassionate response to homelessness, a safe move from encampments into shelter, plus a clear path to housing and services. HEAL continues to focus on resolving encampments with the highest health and safety risk factors,” said City of Austin Homeless Strategy Officer Dianna Grey.
This encampment was the first to be served by the HEAL initiative since December 2022. Since HEAL began in June 2021, 470 individuals have voluntarily moved from high-risk encampments to Southbridge and Northbridge shelters.
The City said successful sheltering and resolution of the Pack Saddle Pass and U.S. Highway 71 encampment was a collaborative effort. The Austin Public Health Department and the Homeless Strategy Division worked closely with the Homeless Outreach Street Team (HOST), Integral Care, Austin Police Department, Austin Public Works Department, Austin Resource Recovery, Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center, the Austin Area Urban League and other community partners, it said.
The Austin City Council recently authorized negotiations with the Texas Department of Transportation to pursue a variety of pedestrian and aesthetic enhancements at the Pack Saddle Pass and U.S. Highway 71 location.
Austin City Council approved the HEAL initiative in February 2021. HEAL is one element of Finding Home ATX, an effort to reduce unsheltered homelessness in Austin.
In an update last year, the City said more than half of the people HEAL connected to shelters that year returned to homelessness.
During a city council public health committee meeting, Grey broke down data that showed that, since the first relocation in June 2021, 361 people were moved into one of the two shelters by early September 2022.
Data showed that 65% (213) of those people had exited the bridge shelters, 44% (or 94 people) found housing, and 48% (or 102 people) returned to homelessness.
"I would not expect that proportion to remain," said Grey.
She said many people left the shelter because of how long the process took when the initiative originally started, and it's tough adjusting to a structured environment with rules.