April 2021
By Ezequiel Jaime-Sanchez, Staff Reporter
Austin residents will be able to vote to reinstate a homeless camping ban on the May 1st ballot. Austin previously had a homeless camping ban, but it was lifted in 2019. In October 2019, after unsettling reports related to homelessness, Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent a letter to Austin Mayor Steve Adler warning him to deal with the homelessness in Austin or he will use state resources to deal with the homelessness.
The Texas governor wasn’t the only one to demand change. A non-profit organization called Save Austin Now set out, they said, to revive Austin’s safety and health. To achieve this they obtained 26,000 signatures to include a proposition on the May ballot. Proposition B includes the banning of camping citywide, banning of sitting or laying down on the University of Texas campus and Downtown Austin, and prohibiting aggressive panhandling between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.
Proposition B seems to have a good amount of support, but there are still plenty who oppose it. One of them is Julie Oliver, a former Democratic candidate for Congress. The Cardinal Post reached out to proponents on both sides of the issue. Save Austin Now did not respond. Our conversation with Oliver is reproduced below, edited for length and clarity.
In general, what are your thoughts on Proposition B?
Julie Oliver: In general, I think Prop B is a very bad idea. I think it’s inhumane to criminalize homelessness and being poor. Especially in the year that we’ve come out of, with the pandemic, a lot of people are losing their jobs. It has been an especially challenging year. But even if it wasn’t a challenging year, it still should not be illegal to sit down with your possessions because you’re unhoused, and that’s what this does. It doesn’t address homelessness, it doesn’t address housing, it just criminalizes it.
And if you’re already down on your luck, if you don’t have housing, and you get a ticket, it’s a five-hundred dollar ticket. Five hundred dollars is probably not what folks who are experiencing homelessness have on hand. And if they don’t pay the ticket, an arrest warrant will be issued and that will result in jail time. So it actually exacerbates the problem. So it’s illogical. Prop B is going to compound the problem of homelessness even more for folks who go through the carceral system.
Quite frankly it’s illegal. We have litigated panhandling before; it has gotten to the Supreme Court, and people can ask for help. It is your first amendment right.
And, personally, I was homeless as a teenager, and I’m grateful that I did not encounter a police officer or law enforcement, because my life would probably be drastically different than it is today if I had had that encounter. So, again, I think it’s a terrible idea, and it does not address root causes of homelessness, and it certainly does not provide housing. That’s what we should be working for–housing, not criminalizing folks who are experiencing homelessness.
What are you doing in reaction to Proposition B?
JO: I am canvasing houses–we’re still in coronavirus, so I wear two masks–with a group called Homes Not Handcuffs. We are knocking on doors and asking people to vote “no” on Prop B. I’ve also done a couple of Zoom presentations explaining why I’m against Prop B. I’m using my social media platform to let people know that I am against Prop B.
What motivates you to challenge prop B?
JO: Probably my personal experience. Again, the fact that I was a teen runaway, who lived in abandoned buildings. Every once in a while I’d get shuffled out of it but nobody ever called the police on me. I think that probably is the biggest thing, but I also feel like I have a compassionate heart. It’s, in my opinion, adding insult to injury to somebody who is already experiencing homelessness, to criminalize that is inhumane and it’s mean. It’s mean-spirited. My own experience, but also the fact that I care about people motivates me to challenge this and challenge it in a very vocal way.
Houston has a partial homeless camping ban where setting up tents is illegal but sleeping in a car or outside isn’t punished (Houston has slightly less unsheltered homeless according to a 2019 report), would someone like you be more open to a partial ban like Houston’s?
JO: No, it still doesn’t address the root issue of homelessness and why people are unhoused. Austin is not an affordable city. When I moved here in 1995, it wasn’t affordable then, and it certainly isn’t affordable now. If you are making minimum wage in Austin, the minimum wage has only increased once, 33 years ago. There are four times as many families who need affordable housing than what we have available in Austin. Austin has not worked diligently enough to provide affordable housing for the unhoused. When you make pitching a tent illegal, it pushes people into the periphery. It’s harder for firefighters and EMS to get there. There are no grocery stores. There are no healthcare facilities. Housing first is a solution and there are other cities, like Salt Lake City and New Orleans, who have addressed this without punishing people for being homeless.
What would you say to someone who claims the deregulation of homeless camping has helped increase crime?
JO: I would say there is no data that supports this whatsoever. That’s just an allegation, unsupported by facts. This is what you hear the other side say to try and divide us. They try to scare people, make them feel like “Oh my goodness, we have to do something about this!” This is not an allegation that is provable.
What do you believe is a better alternative to meet the rising unsheltered homelessness in Austin?
JO: Providing housing and wraparound services. We have not done enough. When I moved to Austin, the one shelter that was here was the Arch in downtown. The old Sears building is at Hancock Center on I-35 and 41st. We can use that old sears building and convert it to micro-units to house the unhoused. I think that is a better alternative. It’s been sitting empty for years. Housing and providing folks with support systems. It’s going to be less expensive for us in the long run than having to pull in law enforcement and EMS to deal with homeless populations in Austin.
If Proposition B were to pass what are the next steps for you, or anyone who opposes Proposition B?
JO: Ensuring that we continue to see adequate housing for folks who are unhoused. Staying on our city council members to do this. Staying on the city manager–he is actually the one tasked with ensuring that we purchase the housing. Very little movement has been made on acquiring properties to house. We’ve heard about it more, these last few months, about hotels being acquired. We need affordable housing for folks who are on the verge of losing their housing.
Note: Election day for Austin’s local elections is Saturday, May 1st. Polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and you can find your nearest polling place at one of the following links:
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