This month, I was unjustly arrested at City Hall as I advocated for solutions to homelessness. The organization I work for and the hundreds of unhoused members we represent – along with over 30 other organizations and over 120 healthcare workers, service providers, labor and faith leaders – were calling on city leaders to pause the city’s new encampment sweep plan.
I had done nothing wrong – but the police never stopped to assess the situation and they didn’t issue any warning. Within seconds I was in handcuffs and getting into one of three APD vehicles parked in front of City Hall. If that can happen to me, then surely people far more vulnerable than me are met with worse outcomes.
Because I did nothing wrong, I was released thanks to the help of city officials moments before I was booked into the Travis County jail – but not before the experience confirmed exactly why we were at City Hall that day. The people arrested alongside me were all homeless. I heard officers make cruel jokes about them, even causing some to wince at the offensive words.
We had been at City Hall that day because on May 11, the city planned to roll out a new encampment sweep plan. The plan has since moved forward – with five out of six enforcement teams led by APD, with only one piloted outreach worker and no medics or other public health workers on-site. Some might ask why this matters. First, it matters because this plan is focused on managing the visibility of homelessness rather than providing people with the housing, shelter, and services they actually need. And second, because police officers – no matter the training the city claims they have – are simply not equipped to respond to public health issues and often make things worse.
The issue of homelessness is personal to me. I was born in Odessa and moved to Austin when I was 16. Growing up, my family was poor and the people closest to me struggled with drugs and mental health issues. When I turned 17, I became homeless and lived under the Slaughter and Manchaca bridge – where many people still live today.
Eventually I joined the Navy, went on to work at a power plant, and then went to UT. But none of this happened because I lifted myself up by my bootstraps. It happened because I got help from the government. The GI bill helped pay for my school and housing. And before that, SNAP and Medicaid made sure my family had healthcare and food. Today I organize communities impacted by the same issues I faced: homelessness, broken healthcare systems, and the criminalization of poverty.
For weeks, our members showed up to City Hall to speak out against the city’s new increased sweeps plan and to call for housing, shelter, access to storage, and much more. They shared stories of their belongings being thrown away – their medications, survival gear, loved ones’ ashes, identification needed to get housing or jobs. They’ve shared how they often get no advance notice before getting ticketed by police. Many people continue to repeat the same thing: that they just needed a place to go and right now there are no good options. How is any of this helpful?
The city claims that it leads with compassion, but the plan it launched on May 11 is just the opposite. Sweeping people from place to place is not compassionate, just like filling a jail with people that are homeless and need healthcare is not compassionate either.
I do the work I do because I have been there. I know what it’s like to need help. I also know what government support can do for a person. Our city can help homeless people, but that only happens by providing support for housing, shelter, and services – not APD-led camp sweeps. And that’s exactly what we’re going to keep fighting for.
JJ Ramirez is an organizer with VOCAL-TX, an organization working with people impacted by the War on Drugs, homelessness, mass incarceration, and HIV/AIDS.
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This article appears in May 22 • 2026.