TX Observer: “On May 1, though, Austin voters approved a ballot proposition, spurred by conservatives and Texas Republicans and aided by sensationalist local TV news coverage, to reinstate the city’s old camping ban, along with two other policies that restrict panhandling and sitting or lying down in Central Austin. Between 2000 and 2019, tens of thousands of tickets were issued under those policies, with the vast majority becoming warrants. “What they want is to push us back to where they don’t see us anymore,” Conley says. “But it’s gonna be just like before: They’re gonna overload the jails, then they’re gonna stop the ban because there are more dangerous people out there than the homeless.”
Austin police have laid out a multi-stage plan for enforcement of the revived camping ban: education and outreach through early June, with tickets and arrests potentially starting later in the summer. In a statement, a city spokesperson said: “This phased implementation applies equally to anyone who may be camping around City Hall in violation of [the ban].”
Conley, who’s been homeless in Austin on and off since she was a teenager, says the way to get the protestors to leave City Hall is simple: “If you want us to leave, start housing us.””