Posted on 11/22/2019 4:53:33 PM PST by JeepersFreepers
Sub-Headline: “To just put them all in a really shoddy hotel a few hundred feet from where we live … is just going to make the problem so much worse.”
AUSTIN — Amid a citywide homeless crisis, city hall has a new plan: spend $8 million to put up 81 people in a homeless hotel.
Last week, the Austin City Council unanimously agreed to buy the southeast Rodeway Inn and convert it to a hotel for homeless people. According to officials, the place will be a “low-to-no barrier” shelter, meaning individuals can enter without any background check, stay as long as they want, and don’t need to be sober while they’re there.
“Folks will be able to stay there as long as they desire to,” said Matt Mollica, executive director of Austin’s Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO), the organization that will manage the inn. “There will be some folks that identify the hotel as a long-term solution. We need to be flexible and allow that to be the case.”
Doing the math, the city council will spend $100,000 per initial resident—and that’s not even including the ongoing cost to operate and maintain the place, though ECHO said they’ll pick up that tab.
The council’s decision has angered residents who live and work right next to the hotel. They said they’re already disturbed at the crime in the area, and that creating one house for all the homeless to live in, including registered sex offenders, will further threaten everyone’s safety.
“We have had countless break-ins into homes, car thefts, drive-by shootings, our mail being stolen and vandalized. All of this has been primarily homeless activity,” said Mark Thompson, vice president of a nearby neighborhood homeowners association. “We have spoken to [Austin police] on numerous occasions, and they have confirmed that this is homeless activity in our area. It is mostly driven by the drug trade that’s going on in our area.”
“It’s crack central,” said Andres Perez, who has a car detailing business next to the hotel. He said in his two years there, the area has quickly become dangerous, with constant drug deals and prostitution.
“Almost daily, I have to contact the authorities to be able to clear out people from coming in and buying drugs on my property after hours,” Perez said, who added that he is now always armed. “I’m constantly watching out for my safety and the safety of my employees.”
“To just put all [the homeless] in a really shoddy hotel a few hundred feet from where we live … is just going to make the problem so much worse,” Thompson added.
The council’s new homeless hotel is the latest episode in a tumultuous several months in Texas’ capital city.
The story began in June, when the Austin City Council made it legal for vagrants to camp, sit, and lie down in public spaces across the city. Almost overnight, Austinites saw their streets, sidewalks, and highways littered with campsites and tent cities.
Council’s decision sparked a wildfire of public contention, prompting a slew of law enforcement and elected officials to speak out against it. Over 47,000 citizens even signed a petition calling for the law’s reversal.
After four months of public outcry and safety risk—and after a public warning from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over citizens’ safety—the council finally met and changed their law, but they chose to reverse only parts of it.
Now, the city council’s latest “solution” is to spend $100,000 per person to congregate the homeless in a “low-to-no barrier” motel next door to neighborhoods.
“I’m just really thankful to see it,” Mayor Adler said of the hotel. “My sense is that with this, we begin to turn the corner on dealing with this challenge.”
“If the city’s going to build this homeless shelter, they need to build a fence around our place, but I don’t want to live in a prison,” continued Thompson. “A lot of people are going to be leaving as a result of this.”
The city council has a reputation among its critics for allegedly making decisions without considering public input, and they might see the fast turnaround and unanimous vote on the deal as suspicious. But Austin Mayor Steve Adler says the speed and the price tag were both necessary to address the problem at hand for the long term.
But while the council sees fast track the neighbors are feeling railroaded. A group of them addressing the council before their vote commented, "It is reasonable to conclude that the decision by the City of Austin will have a negative economic impact on surrounding businesses and communities and will stifle or halt the economic dynamism and growth."
And for those still reeling over the $8 million price tag for a site valued by the county at less than $3 million the mayor says the final total includes other costs. “There's additional money for renovations but also services,” he says, “Not only putting someone in a place but making sure they get the mental health attention, the substance abuse attention, the job training attention, whatever it's going to get them back into society."
Keep it stupid, Austin.
The homeless will increase.
Oh that’s just great....now they want to house druggies as well as feed their habit.
Oh that’s just great....now they want to house druggies as well as feed their habit.
If they’re living in a Hotel they’re not Homeless so throw them out and bring in more Homeless but then they’re not Homeless ,LOL
Well, can I just get Austin to buy my family of 4 a house for $400,000?
Liberals’ brains don’t work right.
But we already knew that.
Maybe they can set it up to work like the Roach Motel. The homeless check in but they don’t check out.
Centralized drug patrons
LOL! BINGO. Post of the day!!
Charlie Brown will be poopin in the halls.
Make them build it themselves. They can then learn a trade at least.
wow.
5 million over going price.
i’m sure it’s all legit :)
Well, since my pusher left me (duh-duh), I found a new place to dwell (duh-duh). It’s down at the end of Sixth Street at the Homeless Hotel...
What could possibly go wrong? Oy....
The absolute certainty of spectacular failure makes me wonder if there may be an investment opportunity here. Like, is there some way to “short” this project? How to capitalize on the inevitable downside is the question.
Someone the mayor is fond of is going to have a tidy profit on this, that’s for sure.
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