Posts Tagged ‘David Gray’

Is Abbott Finally Cleaning Up Austin’s Homeless Mess?

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025

Ever since Steve Adler and the Austin City Council voted to let drug addicted transients camp on Austin streets, the city has been a magnet for sturdy beggars across the state They flocked to Austin to “party,” a situation only partially cured by reinstating the “camping” ban. After proposition B, the larger homeless camps were cleared, but smaller ones continued to exist around the city.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been more than critical of the move from the very beginning, threatening state action to clean up Austin’s mess:

According to this press release, Abbott is finally following through on his threats.

Governor Greg Abbott today announced an operation dedicated to making Austin safer and cleaner by relocating homeless individuals and removing encampments in and around the capital city and state property.

“Texans should not endure public safety risks from homeless encampments and individuals,” said Governor Abbott. “Weapons, needles, and other debris should not litter the streets of our community, and the State of Texas is taking action. I directed state agencies to address this risk and make Austin safer and cleaner for residents and visitors to live, travel, and conduct business.”

The operation, led by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) in close coordination with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the Texas State Guard, and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), has led to a cleaner, safer Austin.

Homeless individuals violating state law or local ordinances will be arrested and debris created by homeless encampments will be removed. Since the operation began late last week, Texas has arrested numerous individuals for a variety of criminal offenses, and removed firearms, drug paraphernalia, and encampments from public areas across Austin.

Since the operation began late last week, The State of Texas has:

  • Removed 48 encampments
  • Removed over 3,000 pounds of debris
  • Arrested 24 repeat felony offenders
  • Seized over 125 grams of narcotics

    • During the camp cleanup operations, ten subjects have been found to have outstanding warrants. Several of these individuals were identified in their warrants as being armed and dangerous and exhibiting violent tendencies. One subject was wanted out of state for Aggravated Escape from Custody. Additionally, 24 of the subjects arrested were identified as repeat felony offenders.

    This is good news, and getting any repeat felons off the streets makes things safer for law-abiding Austinites. There are a few news stories on the cleanup, but none that I can see with any more details than are in the governor’s press release. In particular, I’m not seeing a map of those 48 cleared camps. I haven’t traveled around to see if the (generally very small) homeless camps in northwest Travis and southern Williamson counties have been cleared, but I suspect they haven’t.

    Though, what do you know, the City of Austin has announced they’re doing homeless camp cleanups as well “according to a memo from Director of Austin Homeless Strategies and Operations David Gray.”

    “According to another memo obtained by KXAN regarding results from the first day of that surge, the city cleaned up 46 encampments and visited 29 more for outreach Monday. ‘Most people agreed to leave voluntarily, and staff connected several people to shelter and/or additional services.'” Well, if they’re in the shelter, it’s easier for the Homeless Industrial Complex to rake money off them. I also wonder if they’re just double-counting the sites state troopers already cleared.

    Alder and the Austin City Council’s foolish policies put Austin in a deep hole in terms of dealing with the drug-addicted lunatics lured here. It will probably take more homeless site cleanups before they move elsewhere.

    Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Austin, Crime, Democrats, Social Justice Warriors, Texas | 1 Comment »

    Homeless Org Kicked Off Austin Gravy Train For Lying

    Wednesday, September 17th, 2025

    There’s been a shakeup in the Austin Homeless Industrial Complex hierarchy.

    The City of Austin’s Homeless Strategy Office (HSO) will end its contract with homelessness resources nonprofit Urban Alchemy at the end of September. According to a city memo, some Urban Alchemy staff “misrepresented Homeless Management Information System exit dates and records.”

    Urban Alchemy operated the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH) and the Eighth Street Women’s Shelter in downtown Austin.

    For those unfamiliar with Austin geography, ARCH is the city’s big downtown homeless shelter on Eighth Street, just two blocks north of the booze and nightclub district on Sixth Street, and two blocks east of the APD headquarters; sort of one-stop shopping. Before the Austin City Council decided to invite every drug-addicted transient in Texas to move to the city in 2019, ARCH constantly showed up as the epicenter of crime. Since that calamity, and the lunacy of police defunding, crime seems to have spread to the rest of downtown as well.

    Urban Alchemy is a West Coast Homeless Industrial Complex outfit that runs shelters in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, etc.

    A spokesperson for the nonprofit said that staff had “misreported” those exit dates and records. Homeless Strategy Director, David Gray said there was no financial impact and that the records have been fixed.

    “We notified the City after our internal controls discovered the issue and terminated the employees that we identified as responsible,” the spokesperson said. “We hold our entire team to the highest possible standards, and will never hesitate to take appropriate action when we fall short of those standards.”

    KXAN was told five Urban Alchemy employees were fired.

    Gray sent the memo to Austin City Council on Tuesday, notifying members that the contract with Urban Alchemy will end Sept. 30. According to Gray, the records that were changed, make it harder to know how shelters are actually operating.

    “When a record is incorrect or it’s incorrectly altered, it makes it more challenging for us to know whether or not a client truly is successfully housed or not, and where they’re at in their journey,” Gray said. “It could make outcomes look better than what they are, or make a shelter look more efficient than what it actually is.”

    Though the records have been corrected, Gray told council members, ending the contract with Urban Alchemy is about accountability.

    “Ending this contract reflects HSO’s commitment to upholding the integrity of its operations,” Gray said in the memo.

    Gray told members that in order to keep downtown homeless shelters in operation, HSO will enter into an emergency contract with Endeavors. Endeavors is currently responsible for operating HSO’s Marshalling Yard Temporary Emergency Shelter and Northbridge Shelter.

    The Marshalling Yard Homeless Shelter (yes, the city spells it with two Ls) is basically a big metal warehouse at the edge of Montopolis, near the 183/71 interchange, they just plopped some beds down into. Montopolis is one of the last remnants of Austin’s traditionally poor, traditional black neighborhoods (lots of little houses) that’s being transformed by both an increasing Hispanic population and the terrible slow sword of gentrification. Either way, the land is too close to downtown to keep letting poor black people live there, so apartment complexes and $500,000 home subdivisions are popping up like mushrooms.

    The Northbridge site is a former hotel near the I-35/183 interchange that the City of Austin bought in 2020 and it’s now reportedly strewn with drugs and trash.

    Endeavors is a San Antonio-based Homeless Industrial Complex outfit.

    HSO plans to place an emergency contract on city council’s Oct. 9 agenda, according to Gray. That emergency contract would authorize an agreement with Endeavors until Sept. 30, 2026.

    Gray told KXAN, Endeavors will need to hire roughly 150 employees within the next three weeks, in order to take over for Urban Alchemy.

    “HSO selected Endeavors for this emergency contract based on the organization’s demonstrated ability to rapidly hire and train staff for large-scale operations, its familiarity with HSO’s contracting requirements, and its strong track record in delivering quality services,” Gray said in the memo.

    Urban Alchemy will continue its operations until the emergency contract is approved. The nonprofit also said it was “grateful for [its] years of partnership” with the city.

    Maybe it is as simple as Urban Alchemy lying about results and getting replaced. Or maybe they simply didn’t do a good enough job of getting the graft wheels greased, and Endeavors will keep better keep the kickbacks and graft flowing to the right people…

    (Hat tip: Dwight.)

    Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Austin, Crime, Democrats, Texas, Welfare State | No Comments »