City closes homeless encampments off East Riverside, relocates 28 people into shelters

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Two homeless encampments in southeast Austin were closed and cleaned out this week, and nearly 30 people were moved to three of Austin’s shelters.

The city of Austin said in a press release Tuesday morning that its Homeless Strategy Office and the Austin Watershed Protection Department “compassionately closed an encampment within a high flash flood risk area of the Country Club Creek watershed near the intersection of Wickersham Lane and East Riverside Drive.”

According to the city, 21 homeless residents were moved to the Northbridge and Southbridge shelters as part of the Housing-Focused Encampment Assistance Link (HEAL) Initiative. Seven others were moved to the Marshalling Yard Emergency Shelter through a separate encampment closure nearby, per the release.

Austin Resource Recovery was in the area Tuesday conducting general litter abatement throughout the area to clean trash and debris in the vicinity of the creek channel. 

Since its launch in June 2021, the HEAL Initiative has moved more than 988 individuals from high-risk encampments to the City’s Northbridge and Southbridge shelters, as well as the Marshalling Yard Emergency Shelter, according to the city.

The release noted that the closure of the encampment located at the Country Club Creek watershed area near Wickersham Lane and East Riverside Drive is part of the city’s broader strategy to address homelessness while returning public spaces to their intended use. 

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