title: "Austin spent $716K in 26 days cleaning homeless encampments. More than half of costs were for staff salaries"
url: "https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/austin-spent-716k-26-days-173125198.html"
author: "Sana Dadani"

Editor's note: The video above is from a previous story from July 6, 2026.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The city of Austin spent more than $700,000 in less than a month managing homeless encampments earlier this year. Most of that money went to staff salaries and contractors.

Between May 11 and June 5, the department spent $719,361 on the Homeless Encampment Management initiative, according to a presentation the Austin Homeless Strategies and Operations department gave at a city public health committee meeting on Sept. 2.

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Sixty-two percent of that cost went to staff salaries – nearly $450,000. 32% of the total cost went to contractors, just over $230,000. 4% was used for equipment, coming out to just under $30,000. And about $10,000 went to disposal.

RELATED: Austin HSO outlines expanded strategy for homeless encampment cleanups

Director David Gray said the department used the funds to "create a process that was better coordinated, better organized, allows us to sustain progress as we provide services and clear and close sites."

"I know that there was a lot of interest during the project process itself to look at these costs and try to determine whether or not funds could be used for other things housing, or more outreach, or prevention," he added. "Unfortunately, these are resources that are tied up mostly in staff salaries."

In the 26 days discussed, the department said teams conducted 456 total visits to 127 distinct locations with encampments. Teams removed almost 700,000 pounds of debris from the sites. 28% of those sites saw encampments again within 30 days, according to the department's data.

SEE ALSO: Austin visited 127 homeless camps in first month of enhanced clearing efforts

The city has a map with sites designated as Keep Clear locations. These are public areas that the city has identified for ongoing management. The city does say on its website that regular abatement or sweeps of the area could happen.

VOCAL-TX, a project dedicated to ending homelessness and other issues, questioned the effectiveness of the program at the meeting in September if 28% of those sites saw repeated activity of encampments within 30 days.

"Maybe it means displacement isn't solving homelessness," said Carrieann Smith, representing the advocacy organization.

Eli Cortez, community organizer with VOCAL-TX, called the cleanups "mass displacement and raiding operations."

Cortez said a woman who lived at a homeless encampment in Oak Springs lost important documents like birth certificates after a cleanup.

The Texas Harm Reduction Alliance said the organization spends about $4,000 a month to replace items destroyed during sweeps. In a May 2026 survey the organization conducted, about 60% of respondents said they lost something critical in an encampment sweep. The details of the survey were presented at the meeting.

In response, Gray said staff are instructed to connect people with storage sites set up for the homeless, and the quantity of items at encampment sites isn't always safe for the cleanup crew to sort through.

The department said 72-hour notices, including written notices, are given to people at encampments. The alliance survey found about 70% of respondents received no notice before a sweep occurred.

Connecting with supportive services

In the 26 days the city's Homeless Strategies and Operations department conducted its encampment management initiative at 127 sites, staff connected 35 people to shelters and nine people to supportive services. Staff offered 88 people access to services, and only half accepted.

Gray said staff can't force people to accept services. Shelters in the city remain below capacity.

The Texas Harm Reduction Alliance's survey found 74% of respondents said they didn't receive connections with services.

"Shelter connections is not the same as entrance," Carrie Ann said. "Shelter and permanent housing is not the same."

She added it's important for the department to identify how many people enter shelters and how many reach permanent housing.

"Stop measuring success by displacement of the tents," she said. "Measure how many people no longer needed them."

The department presented data prepared by the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition as of February 2026. Currently, city-funded emergency shelters have 1,094 beds. 1,134 beds are expected this year. 1,134 more are expected next year.

The department's rapid rehousing program currently serves 481 households. 322 are expected in 2026 and 259 in 2027. Meanwhile, the department's permanent supportive housing program supports 901 households. 991 are expected in 2026 and 801 in 2027.

The coalition estimates there are about 5,000 unsheltered homeless people in Austin since May 2024. The department will release more data this fall.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.

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seems like for that amount of money, you could just create solutions that prevent a problematic camp from emerging.
i think the camps emerge especially when shelter conditions, shelter space, or distributed public sleeping.. are insufficent or risked

After reading the article, 2 things stood out:

"Maybe it means displacement isn't solving homelessness," said Carrieann Smith, representing the advocacy organization.

"Stop measuring success by displacement of the tents," she said. "Measure how many people no longer needed them."

I live in California now (formally Dallas Metro), and I've been homeless a couple times. I'm currently "permanently housed" living in a new apartment structure. It's run by a local non-profit housing center, overseen by Section 8. And while my experience getting here wasn't easy, there were some things that helped get me here, while also providing me with a [limited] scope of how I was going to get here.

In June of 2024, I had lost my housing because I could no longer afford it, due to prior job loss and no prospects. I was on the streets in a tent for nearly 4 weeks. I had already been homeless for 2.5 years when I first came to LA (lost job in Dallas, no prospects for employment, left because I didn't want to be homeless there). I had already been prepared for being homeless: UPS Mailbox, IDs, storage unit, Food Stamps, General Relief from LA County.

During one night, a crew of people were walking around where I was sleeping, and they started asking for people's information, because they were part of a crew to help the homeless transition to shelters. I felt there was no risk in my identity getting stolen, so I gave them my info, and they went on their way; I expected nothing to come of it. Almost 4 weeks later, they have me getting picked up for an intake into a shelter in South Central.

I stayed at that shelter for 1 year and 9 months. During that time, I got a job and lost it. I had saved money, and was getting a sizeable chunk of unemployment. My situation was not like so many others who were there. Some were getting Social Security. Others only the General Relief and food stamps. Others had mental health issues that required them to be sent to other facilities.

At one point, there was an option for permanent housing in Long Beach, right next to a light rail line, which was ideal. That one fell through. A few months later, around this time last year, I was informed by my case manager that I could get into what is now my home, but I needed a doctor's note of my mental or physical disabilities. Got one from my therapist. We did the application process in late October. I was left hanging for months, when they show up at the end of February to let me know I need to pack my shit, I'm getting my own roof over my head the next day.

I mention all this because, despite the slog and the inconsistencies, and the relative lack of information, they have a system here that does work. Cleaning up an encampment doesn't work. it just pushes people away. And the fact that so many lost important documents, or weren't informed of the services that were provided? It's lazy work. Austin is being lazy. They aren't providing the homeless with what they need.

They're called "homeless". Give them homes.