UPDATE ON AUSTIN TX RE 'CAMPING HOMELESS'

 I have stated that the present condition in Austin Texas vis a vis homelessness contrasts as well as potentially compares to that of Louisville KY, our rootedly genteely-administered city. In both cases we are facing two left-of-Center Metropolises with a state beyond its borders that is Solid-South Conservative Republican. Austin did vote at the Council level to abet aiding homelessness by decriminalilzing what I (with hope of being utterly non-pejorative) call 'camping homelessness'; a referendum in Austin re-criminalized that 'thrown state' (to use the expression of Martin Heidegger) and the Texas legislature went further by making camping-on-public-land a crime.

So I have for information-purposes to our Louisville situation been following Austin's progress in this domain; it is personally edifying, but perhaps to the SolidGOPSouth guys in Texas disturbing that just a few days ago and with revision yesterday, Travis County (say Austin) voted in about $250million for sheltering homeless people not in tents, as seen up to now, but in (perhaps-and-claimably-more-) permanent shelters. The money comes from the Covid-related rescue funds, in a way directly comparable to Louisville's acquisition of 'approved campground domain' at Brook&College Streets (the prior Catholic Chancery).

There is a 'Camp Esperanza' in Austin by report which seems comparable to the projected Louisville approved campsite; Travis-County/Austin will donate a larger chunk of the massive grant to this facility, with evident thrust to build 'affordable' (?low-cost-construction so-rent-cheap?) housing for the homeless.

The 'Faith Community' in Austin seems to be possibly a stronger force aiding the homeless comparing to Louisville with about an even-mix of religious and secular NPO homeless outreach orgs in town, consistent with my impression that overall nationally we have a 'cloud' of separate-but-similar grouping of aid organizations abetting the homeless.

. . . My report here is not a final report; the comparison of AustinTX with LouisvilleKY seems germane, and following the notion (from Donald Campbell, social researcher) that 'Reforms are Experiments' or at least afford some 'experimental factors,' the reportage on the Austin situation side-to-side with ours seems to be a productive way-to-go.

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