That's been a problem for us on multiple levels. Shelters are infection zones, with everyone working from home and no tourists the panhandlers aren't able to get anything, and because downtown is so quiet we've seen encampments popping up in a number of places. The city has expedited the deployment of a bunch of prefab homes that they had on order for social housing but it's not going to be enough.
So Governor Abbot basically went to war against the homeless right before COVID started to really be a concern.
They built out encampments for large groups and they've basically become a wasteland comparable to Mad Max. Massive bonfires, bum fights, stabbings, crack heads running all over the place. It's terrifying to drive past them. I know at one point, there was an organization trying to put together shipping container homes almost 30 miles outside of Austin for the "transients" but not sure what's going on with that.
The city tried to push them further south and it kind of blew up in the faces. Now they're just camped all over downtown again and have fully occupied the underpass of the highway where 6th and 7th street meet (the most popular tourist spot before all this started).
It's disgusting here and Houston is WAY worse when it comes to homeless population.
