Austin’s Homeless Crisis: A Week of Tragedy and Displacement
This past weekend, Austin experienced yet another tragic reminder of the vulnerability faced by those living without shelter. Four people experiencing homelessness were swept away near a storm drain in North Austin during heavy rainfall, with two rescued but a man and woman carried away by floodwaters. According to reports, one person was rescued at the scene, another was found dead in Shoal Creek, and a third body was found in Lady Bird Lake. A fourth victim remains missing.
Prior to the severe weather, outreach teams from Austin-Travis County EMS and the City’s Homeless Strategy Office had canvassed low-lying and flood-prone areas, offering to connect people to shelter and resources and warning individuals about the potential risks.
The Austin Police Department confirmed that recent storms likely played a role in both deaths, and neither case will be investigated as a homicide. For those forced to seek shelter in storm drains and under bridges, severe weather transforms from an inconvenience into a death sentence.
This tragedy comes just months after Central Texas experienced catastrophic flooding over the July 4th weekend that killed over 135 people across the region. The cruel irony is inescapable: as the city works to clear homeless encampments, those displaced are pushed into increasingly dangerous locations—including the very storm drains that become death traps when the rains arrive.
A Week of Violence Downtown
The past week has witnessed a disturbing sequence of violent incidents involving individuals experiencing homelessness:
- October 21: A machete fight downtown resulted in two people being injured
- October 25: A shooting at the Austin Central Library
- October 25: A shooting on a CapMetro bus, with the same suspect (Harold Keene) charged in both incidents
These violent episodes have dominated local headlines and fueled public anxiety about safety in Austin’s public spaces. While it’s tempting to draw direct causal lines between the encampment sweeps and these incidents, responsible reporting requires acknowledging that the connections remain complex and not fully documented.
What we do know is this: when people experiencing homelessness are forcibly displaced without adequate alternatives, desperation increases. When mental health services are inadequate and substance abuse treatment remains out of reach, crises intensify. When community and stability are stripped away, unpredictability follows.
The October 20 Sweeps: Two Efforts, One Result
On October 20, Austin launched what officials called the “Citywide Encampment Management Prioritization Initiative,” a three-week effort to clear homeless encampments. The initiative was coordinated by Austin Homeless Strategies and Operations with support from multiple city departments including the Austin Police Department. On the first day alone, the city cleaned up 46 encampments and visited 29 more for outreach, with most people agreeing to leave voluntarily.
But the city wasn’t alone. Governor Greg Abbott directed state agencies to dismantle homeless camps in Austin, with the operation beginning late last week and removing 48 encampments. The state deployed the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas State Guard, and the National Guard in what became a show of force that caught even city officials by surprise.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said the state’s order came partly as a shock, arriving as Austin was rolling out its own plan to clear encampments ahead of winter and amid wildfire risk. The crucial difference? Watson noted that city workers offer medical and housing services and shelter before asking people to pack up, while state troopers “go in with a show of force” without the same level of resources.
It remains unclear where the state relocated people and what services were provided to them. This lack of transparency compounds fears that these sweeps simply shuffle people from one location to another—sometimes into more dangerous situations, like storm drains.
A man who was wanted for murder was found earlier this month camping in the city.
The Stigma That Kills
Behind every statistic is a human being. Behind every encampment cleared is a person trying to survive. Yet our public discourse often strips away this humanity, reducing complex individuals to problems to be “cleaned up.”
The stigma attached to homelessness operates on multiple levels:
The Myth of Choice: Many assume people experiencing homelessness have simply made bad decisions. This ignores the reality that most are one or two crises away from homelessness themselves—a medical emergency, job loss, domestic violence, or mental health crisis can push anyone into housing instability.
The Criminalization Impulse: Rather than treating homelessness as a housing crisis requiring housing solutions, we increasingly respond with law enforcement. Governor Abbott’s operation arrested 24 repeat felony offenders and 31 people total on various charges, but arrests don’t end homelessness—they make it harder to escape by adding criminal records that become barriers to employment and housing.
The Visibility Problem: We’re most disturbed by homelessness we can see. Encampments in public spaces trigger complaints, but sweeping them away doesn’t solve anything—it just moves the problem somewhere less visible, often somewhere more dangerous.
The Dehumanization: Language matters. Terms like “transients,” “the homeless,” and “encampments” create distance between “us” and “them.” These are our neighbors, community members who’ve fallen through a safety net with holes too large to catch everyone.
This stigma has real consequences. It allows us to accept policies that prioritize aesthetic concerns over human lives. It permits us to feel righteous anger about a tent in a park while remaining unmoved by a person dying in a storm drain.
What Austin Has Tried (And Why It’s Not Enough)
To its credit, Austin has invested significant resources in addressing homelessness, though the scale of the crisis continues to outpace solutions:
Last year, the city allocated $30.3 million to help those experiencing homelessness, but that amount needs to more than double for the upcoming 2025-2026 fiscal year. The city’s approach has focused on:
- Rapid Rehousing Programs: Providing short-term rental assistance to help people transition into permanent housing
- Emergency Shelter Expansion: Adding more shelter beds and supportive services
- Outreach Teams: Teams from Austin-Travis County EMS and the Homeless Strategy Office canvass flood-prone areas before severe weather, offering shelter connections and warning individuals about potential risks
- Prevention Programs: The Wayfinder program aims to help people on the edge of homelessness by covering marginal expenses like unexpected car repairs or security deposits
ECHO (Ending Community Homelessness Coalition) served more than 28,000 people last year across Travis County and reported that homelessness decreased for the first time since 2020 by 5%. That’s progress, but it’s fragile progress in the face of rising housing costs, federal funding cuts, and state policies that prioritize enforcement over services.
Proposition Q: A Critical Crossroads
On November 4, Austin voters will decide on Proposition Q, a tax rate increase that represents perhaps the most significant local investment in addressing homelessness in the city’s history.
What It Does: Proposition Q would increase the property tax rate to $0.574017 per $100 valuation, which is $0.05 higher per $100 valuation than the voter approval tax rate. This would generate nearly $110 million for the 2025-26 fiscal year, with the largest chunk aimed at addressing affordability and homelessness.
Where the Money Goes: The funding would provide $12 million for up to 350 new Rapid Rehousing units, $8.4 million for emergency shelter beds and supportive services, $3 million to expand the HEAL initiative, and $2 million for street outreach efforts. Additional funds would support parks, public safety, public health services, and other city needs.
The Cost: The average homeowner with a home valued around $500,000 would pay an additional $270 on their tax bill—roughly $22.50 per month.
The Context: This vote comes at a particularly difficult time. Austin has seen unanticipated federal cuts of about $200 million this year, including funding related to I-35 construction, public health, and solar energy projects. Meanwhile, nearly 28,000 Texans experienced homelessness last year, about 8% more than 2019, as housing costs have climbed.
The Stakes: If Proposition Q fails, the property tax rate will be reduced to the voter-approval tax rate, and the city estimates it will collect $109.5 million less revenue than budgeted, requiring the city to rebalance the budget by cutting services.
David Gray, director of the Homeless Strategy Office, said Proposition Q’s passage would help “jump-start” the plan to “get people off the street, get them into shelter or housing, and get them to a point where they can live stably and securely on their own”.
The Path Forward: Compassion or Enforcement?
The events of the past week crystallize a fundamental choice Austin faces: Will we address homelessness as a humanitarian crisis requiring comprehensive solutions, or as a public nuisance requiring enforcement and removal?
The encampment sweeps—particularly the state’s heavy-handed approach—represent the enforcement path. They may temporarily clear visible encampments, but they don’t reduce homelessness. They simply scatter people into less visible, often more dangerous locations. They break apart what fragile community exists among people experiencing homelessness, making it harder for outreach workers to maintain relationships and provide services. They traumatize already vulnerable individuals and erode trust in the very systems meant to help them.
Mayor Kirk Watson criticized the state’s approach, saying “Sending in the State Guard, or National Guard, and DPS can make you look tough, but it does not solve the issues”. He noted the city doesn’t know where the state is sending people or how they’re helping them transition.
The alternative—the compassionate path represented by Proposition Q and comprehensive service programs—acknowledges that homelessness is fundamentally a housing problem requiring housing solutions. It recognizes that people need mental health treatment, substance abuse services, medical care, and job training. It understands that prevention is more effective and humane than crisis response.
This path is more expensive in the short term. It requires patience and investment without the immediate visible “results” of cleared encampments. It demands that we see people experiencing homelessness as neighbors deserving of dignity rather than problems to be removed.
Three Lives That Mattered
As Austin debates tax rates and sweeps encampments, three people who were simply seeking shelter from the rain are gone. One body remains unfound, a family somewhere unable to say goodbye, unable to find closure.
These deaths were preventable. Not through better weather forecasting or flood warnings—those systems worked. They were preventable through housing. Through acknowledging that in one of America’s most prosperous cities, people shouldn’t be forced to take shelter in storm drains.
The week’s violence, too, reflects failures of a different kind—the failure to provide adequate mental health services, substance abuse treatment, and pathways out of crisis. When we sweep encampments without providing real alternatives, when we criminalize homelessness rather than addressing its root causes, we create the conditions for desperation and crisis.
Proposition Q isn’t a perfect solution. No single ballot measure can solve a crisis decades in the making. But it represents a choice to invest in compassion over enforcement, in housing over handcuffs, in prevention over punishment.
As voters head to the polls on November 4, they carry with them the weight of these four lives lost to the floods, the individuals caught in violent incidents, and the thousands more trying to survive on Austin’s streets. The question before us isn’t whether we can afford to help—it’s whether we can afford not to.
The rains will come again. Winter will arrive. People will continue to need shelter. The only question is whether we’ll provide it—or continue to mourn those who die waiting for our compassion to catch up to our wealth.
Harold Newton Keene faces three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of deadly conduct in connection with the shootings Saturday at the Austin Public Library and on a CapMetro bus earlier in the day.
Nicholas Berry was the person shot inside the APL on Saturday. He was visiting here from Waco and was in the library to study when the incident happened. He spoke with FOX 7 Austin.
“At that moment I knew, I just knew I was shot. I didn’t know where I was shot. I knew I was shot. So I looked down and then the blood just splatted up to my face. So I knew something was wrong. So boom, I just remember running out.” — Nicholas Berry, APL shooting victim
The FAA issued a ground stop at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport Monday, halting departures and delaying arrivals. The cause: a nationwide shortage of air traffic controllers due to the federal government shutdown.
Early voting continues through Friday.
Through Monday, 5.94% of registered voters had cast a ballot either in-person or by mail. More than 52,000 early voters have voted in-person while just over 53,000 have mailed in ballots. (Travis County Clerk)
Austin police are asking for the public’s help in identifying and locating a man accused of an assault back in June.
Bexar County authorities have made an arrest in connection with a homicide on Sunday.
A hearing date of November 17 has been set for a man accused of assaulting several students near the University of Texas at Austin in April.
Aymen Labidi has been ordered to be transported to an outpatient restoration program after a court deemed him incompetent to stand trial, according to court documents. (KXAN-TV)
County officials in the Austin area report a significant rise in the number of people seized from local jails by ICE agents, who sometimes visit facilities multiple times a day. This surge in enforcement coincides with the Trump administration’s intensified immigration crackdown nationwide.
In Travis County, a growing number of individuals are now facing deportation proceedings, often after relatively minor encounters with local police. Data from the Deportation Data Project confirms this trend, showing that the spike in the number of people in the county jail identified for ICE arrest is mirrored by similar increases across other Texas counties. (KUT 90.5)
A truck caught fire Monday night on W. Highway 71 by Tucker Hill at Cedar Creek.
Austin Energy has appointed a new general manager.
Austin officials plan to request an exception from TxDOT to preserve its rainbow crosswalks and other road art.
Austin Transportation and Public Works Director Richard Mendoza released the list in a memo to Mayor Kirk Watson and City Council. The inventory, dated Friday but posted online Monday, marks the first time Austin has publicly disclosed which artwork could be considered non-compliant under an October 8 letter from TxDOT.
Nearly four months after deadly floods hit Sandy Creek, neighbors are still recovering. On Monday night, they held a community meeting with Travis County leaders to ask for more help rebuilding their homes.
It’s a big day for fans of Barton Springs Pool as a long-awaited, newly-renovated bathhouse opens today.
After years of planning and two years of construction, a new pathway for runners, walkers, and cyclists will soon open in Austin.
Fans of music icons The Beach Boys…surf’s up!
They are performing a free concert Saturday on the big lawn between DKR Stadium and the LBJ Library immediately after the Texas Longhorns play the Vanderbilt Commodores. The game should conclude sometime after 2:00 p.m.
The event is part of the university’s “Longhorn City Limits” concert series.
WEATHER
While the region has been at an elevated risk of wildfires lately, the threat level will go up even higher beginning tomorrow.
FIRE WEATHER WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM WEDNESDAY MORNING THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING FOR WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR MUCH OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS…
AFFECTED AREA…Hill Country, Edwards Plateau, I-35 Corridor, and Coastal Plains.
TIMING…From Wednesday morning through Wednesday evening.
WINDS…Northwest 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 40 mph.
RELATIVE HUMIDITY…As low as 16 percent.
IMPACTS…Any fires that develop could rapidly increase in size and intensity, move quickly, and be very difficult to control.
MONDAY’S HIGH / LOW TEMPERATURES
AUSTIN-BERGSTROM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
CAMP MABRY
Did we feel the last 90-degree day of the year Monday?
5-DAY FORECAST / AUSTIN, TEXAS
Hurricane Melissa, now a powerful Category 5 storm, is bearing down on Jamaica and is forecast to be the worst storm in the island’s history.
Inside Melissa’s eye…
Even veteran forecasters are shocked at how quickly Melissa went from a tropical storm to a major Category 5 hurricane.
JAMAICA: LIVE WEBCAM AS MELISSA MAKES LANDFALL
GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN: DAY 28
Texans are starting to feel the effects of the current federal government shutdown.
Many Central Texas counties still don’t have outdoor warning sirens two months after Gov. Greg Abbott signed a new law requiring them in 30 flood-prone areas, a KXAN-TV investigation found. Local and state officials are rushing to catch up. An Austin family whose loss during the deadly July floods is driving the call for change.
State Rep. Eddie Morales, who represents Eagle Pass, is calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to remove razor wire and shipping containers that impeded an inspection of an international bridge earlier this week. (FOX 7 Austin)
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Johnson and Johnson, accusing the pharmaceutical company of failing to warn consumers about the risk of taking Tylenol while pregnant. (Texas Tribune)
Investigators in Liberty County say a mother drugged her three children and led them into a pond in what authorities describe as an attempted murder-suicide.
This coming Sunday, November 2, everyone can visit a state park for the day for free. There are 89 Texas State Parks. The free admission is in honor of Texas State Parks Day, a tradition that was started at the centennial celebration in 2023. (FOX 7 Austin)
State Rep. Nate Schatzline, a Fort Worth Republican, said on Monday that he will not seek reelection and instead join a group of faith leaders that encourages churches to speak out about Christian conservative values.
🚨BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: It has never been more clear that the battle for our nation is not political, it is spiritual. I am excited to announce that I have been invited to join the team at the National Faith Advisory Board to equip pastors to step up and speak out about religious… pic.twitter.com/Z5M31u9Zqd
— Nate Schatzline (@NateSchatzline) October 27, 2025
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: the Texas Railroad Commission has nothing to do with railroads. It’s called that because the petroleum sector and their allies in the Texas Legislature would just as soon you didn’t know that the Commission does regulate energy matters in Texas – matters of immense financial and environmental consequence, which under Republican control over the last 30 years, has basically meant a regulatory rubber stamp for that industry.
Houston State Rep. Jon Rosenthal, an expert in the field himself, is looking to make a change at the Texas Railroad Commission, and he joined us for a talk to explain why and how he’d like to achieve that goal.
(Episode from October 27, 2025)
SPORTS
NBA: Victories for the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs last night…and a loss for the Dallas Mavericks.
ANOTHER W 🔥@FrostBank | #sponsored pic.twitter.com/9IqNVr89K1
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) October 28, 2025
Victor Wembanyama had 24 points and 15 rebounds, and the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Toronto Raptors 121-103 on Monday night to match the best start in franchise history.
San Antonio has opened a season 4-0 on four occasions, most recently in 2017, but the Spurs have never won their first five games. (Yahoo! Sports)
Tari Eason scored 22 points, Alperen Sengun added 21 points, six rebounds and six assists, and the Houston Rockets beat the Brooklyn Nets 137-109 on Monday night for their first victory of the season.
Kevin Durant had 19 points against his former team, which fell to 0-4. (Yahoo! Sports)
Isaiah Hartenstein had 16 points and 12 points — and scored Oklahoma City’s only two field goals of the final 8:28 — as the Thunder withstood a furious Dallas rally to beat the Mavericks 101-94 on Monday night to improve to 4-0. Dallas falls to 1-3. (Yahoo! Sports)
STANDINGS
ON THE SCHEDULE
NHL: The Dallas Stars return to the ice tonight attempting to get a winning streak going after a victory Sunday.
Texas Football May Be Without Arch Manning vs Vandy? | LIVE | 10/28/25
Texas Monthly writers explore people and places at the intersections of identity, history, progress, and change. Stories include the ghost town of Terlingua, the last surviving ninepin bowling alleys, a ranching industry under threat, the unexpected discovery of a rare type of coyote, a woman who overturned state braiding laws, and a mild-mannered librarian who fought to save the Big Thicket.
Being Texan: A Texas Monthly Special
