The Austin City Council voted Nov. 6 to direct the city manager to expand and better coordinate street and community outreach for people experiencing homelessness, including clearer procedures during encampment cleanups and stronger links to shelter and services.

The action followed hours of public testimony describing personal losses and trauma during recent sweeps. Vincent Valentino, who said his camp was swept and his sister’s ashes destroyed, told the council, “Sweeps like these don’t solve homelessness. They deepen it. They take away people’s dignity, safety, and a little bit of stability they’ve managed to build.”

David Gray, director of Austin Homeless Strategies and Operations, summarized the city’s on‑the‑ground work and outcomes during the operation: “We visited 585 sites. We engaged around 950 individuals. We have sheltered 144 people,” and staff reported that total shelter entries topped about 150 on the day of the briefing. Gray told the council that arrests and citations were a small portion of contacts — “we have done 21 arrests … and APD has also issued 64 citations” — and that outreach teams were attempting to use citations as a pathway to the Austin community court and supportive services.

Advocates who pressed the council for changes said formal procedures were inconsistent and that people often were not given adequate time to gather vital documents, medication and other irreplaceable items before cleanups. Paulette Soltani, co‑director of Vocal Texas, said the city should “invest in more housing, more permanent supportive housing, more housing vouchers, more shelter, more storage, so people’s belongings don’t end up in dumpsters.”

Councilmembers added an amendment to the adopted directive that removed a specific budget reference and asked staff to return with a plan that emphasizes harm reduction, storage and outreach coordination with community partners. Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes recognized the breadth of public testimony and said the adopted motion is intended to “strengthen how we show up” and reduce harms when services are not immediately available.

Staff and advocates acknowledged differences about enforcement and the state’s actions. Gray said the city launched its three‑week initiative before the governor’s statewide announcement and that the city’s practice is to provide outreach, offer services and allow time for people to recover belongings prior to cleanup, while also carrying out cleanups when necessary for public health and safety. The council’s directive requires a clearer outreach and coordination plan, improvements to notification practices, and follow‑up reporting to the council on shelter capacity and the compliance of outreach partners.

The council approved the directive as amended. The measure does not itself allocate new program funding; Councilmembers said they expect future budget and policy work to address capacity, storage and shelter options.

Ending note: The issue is likely to return as staff develops the plan requested by the council and as advocates continue to press for more shelter beds, storage, and changes in how encampment operations are announced and conducted.