This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune.

Ronnie Vara stood at the corner of Austin’s Menchaca Road and W. Ben White Boulevard on a recent chilly evening asking motorists for money with a colorful cardboard sign.

“Please bless me with your generosity and be part of my new miracle,” it read.

The 37-year-old sleeps nearby in a tent underneath State Highway 71. Where she lives and the way she’s trying to make a living both would have been a crime just a year and a half ago. And it could be again if Gov. Greg Abbott or a group of Austin residents get their wish.

But Vara said she can’t imagine what life would be like if the state or Austin voters reinstated bans on camping, panhandling and sitting in public areas that the Austin City Council lifted in 2019.

“How can they criminalize something like this? What choices are there? There’s so many of us and housing is so limited,” she said.

Austin’s housing market has become increasingly less affordable in the last decade, as have most major metropolitan areas in the country, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. For low-income renters, finding an affordable home is especially difficult: 91.2% of Austin households that earn under $15,000 a year spend at least half of their incomes on rent.

Austin officials’ decision to stop criminalizing the behaviors of some homeless people was quickly criticized by Republicans and some residents who complained about highly visible homeless encampments, unhealthy conditions in public areas and aggressive panhandling. Homeless advocates and city officials agree that allowing homeless residents to sleep in public places has increased the visibility of people without homes — but also say criminalizing such behavior does little to get…

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune.
Ronnie Vara stood at the corner of Austin’s Menchaca Road and W. Ben White Boulevard on a recent chilly evening asking motorists for money with a colorful cardboard sign.
“Please bless me with your generosity and be part of my new miracle,” it read.
The 37-year-old sleeps nearby in a tent underneath State Highway 71. Where she lives and the way she’s trying to make a living both would have been a crime just a year and a half ago. And it could be again if Gov. Greg Abbott or a group of Austin residents get their wish.
But Vara said she can’t imagine what life would be like if the state or Austin voters reinstated bans on camping, panhandling and sitting in public areas that the Austin City Council lifted in 2019.
“How can they criminalize something like this? What choices are there? There’s so many of us and housing is so limited,” she said.
Austin’s housing market has become increasingly less affordable in the last decade, as have most major metropolitan areas in the country, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. For low-income renters, finding an affordable home is especially difficult: 91.2% of Austin households that earn under $15,000 a year spend at least half of their incomes on rent.
Austin officials’ decision to stop criminalizing the behaviors of some homeless people was quickly criticized by Republicans and some residents who complained about highly visible homeless encampments, unhealthy conditions in public areas and aggressive panhandling. Homeless advocates and city officials agree that allowing homeless residents to sleep in public places has increased the visibility of people without homes — but also say criminalizing such behavior does little to get…Read Morelocal_news

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