Being homeless means facing daily state violence and fighting every day to survive. Just the act of becoming homeless is a violent one, often being forcibly evicted by a landlord who cares only about profit. On the streets, you can’t be sure when your next shower or even next meal is. You have to sleep with one eye open to make sure what belongings you do have aren’t stolen. On top of that, state sanctioned gangs (aka APD or DPS), routinely come to trash your property, kick you out of your camp, and even physically abuse and jail you. These pigs charge homeless people with Austin’s public camping ban which has essentially made existing as a homeless person anywhere illegal since 2021.
While homeless people have always faced unacceptable violence, Austin didn’t used to be like it is today. As mentioned by some homeless people we have spoken to, Austin was once a “sanctuary city” for homelessness such that many have even traveled from other states to live here. This city has shelters and non-profits that attempt to shield a select few homeless people from some of the violence they experience in the streets. These resources are not the solutions they claim to be and are not only not enough, they are in fact another cog in the system of oppression.
Shelters such as ARCH are infested with bugs and are crowded; and soup kitchens like Angel House feed homeless people low quality and expired food. In fact, many of these shelters have policies that require the residents to be present at certain times of day to continue living there, making it impossible for homeless people to get a job and be present for daily shifts. Those that run these non-profits are only willing to do the bare minimum to continue receiving grants and fundamentally do not care about the people whose oppression they are contributing to. And with the increase of homeless people both due to immigration and heavy gentrification of the city, these resources are more full than ever. Waitlists for case workers can take years and require passing an assessment to even receive consideration.
Supposedly the city has increased funding to $50 million to end homelessness with its Homeless Strategy Office (HSO), so what are their plans?
HSO has 82 encampments marked to be swept this summer and has already started doing so “humanely” by sending an outreach team to evict people from their camps and recommend shelters to them (of which the conditions are so bad that people tell us they prefer the streets). Afterwards, police show up almost daily in black vans to destroy any belongings and violently remove any homeless people who haven’t left their camp. In clear detail, HSO is another organ of the state made to maintain the facade that the city cares while sweeping homeless people out of the public eye.
And why is this all happening? Of course, at the center is profit, but not just for these programs vying after grants and funding. Not only are homeless people moving to Austin from across the country, so are developers and thousands of wealthy people. With luxury apartments, high-rises, and tech companies rapidly appearing in the city, the cost of living is soaring. People who have lived in Austin for decades are now finding their rent unaffordable and being thrown into the streets. Austin’s HSO exists to make these people’s lives hell and hide them from the sight of the petty bourgeoisie who feel discomfort at the sight of those they are displacing. The city doesn’t see homeless people as humans but instead as decrements on property value.
In a similar attempt to sweep homelessness out of sight, CapMetro, a resource which is a necessity for homeless people, now has them being kicked off of busses by bus drivers and security just for being homeless. In August 2024, the city created its new CapMetro Transit Police: a specialized police force which spends much of its time harassing homeless people. People we have talked to have reported being removed from busses by them and even from bus stops they were using to take shelter from the rain.
The CapMetro Transit Police serve the same purpose of appealing and seeming safe to the luxury apartment developers and “progressive” liberals moving to the city by treating homelessness as a trash pick-up schedule. In fact, all of the “solutions” offered up by the system are only about getting paychecks, not about the wellbeing of the oppressed. The real reason why the city cannot provide permanent housing solutions to homeless people is because their existence is a threat created by the capitalist class against us all. If we do not submit to daily horrid conditions and even so much as miss a workday, we too could end up on the streets to fend for ourselves.
Due to such greedy reasons, liberation for homeless people is impossible under capitalism. We cannot achieve solutions to homelessness through systemic reforms; the oppression created by a system that sees people as pests is fundamental, and therefore the solutions must also be fundamental in uprooting and revolutionizing the way humanity exists. Society must be transformed, not by those with money or through some liberal hands-off bureaucracy.
Real change can come only through a confrontation — in the streets and in our minds — against the forces oppressing us, led by those familiar with said oppression. Most importantly, this change must be fundamentally devoted to a love for the people.
Examples of such confrontations can be found throughout history such as in the Unemployed Councils during the Great Depression. These councils consisted of sections of the millions of people fired from their jobs and evicted from their homes. They would gather at places where landlords were evicting residents and the people who showed up would forcefully move furniture back in apartments so residents could continue living there. They disrupted city halls such as that of Harlem where the city was made to focus millions of dollars on unemployment relief. These councils, if pursued to their fullest potential, could have even served as the bodies by which the oppressed could’ve built a new society. (See Dare To Struggle New Mexico’s “When the Poor Fight Back” for more.)
Beginnings of a similar struggle in the present day can be seen with the Homeless Liberation Initiative (HLI) in Connecticut and New Mexico. This organization is made up and lead by homeless people, they have disrupted politicians’ press conferences, have spoken out about unlivable shelter conditions, and understand the real fight that must be taken up. Such an organization is needed in Austin now more than ever, and many homeless people we have spoken to here need to see that people will take their struggle seriously and show up when they are being attacked.
If you interested in helping start such an organization, register for the Dare To Struggle National Conference this June 12-14th to meet with the HLI and learn how we can prop up those ready to lead the struggle!
Dare to Struggle 