Beside the Point

Tim Hendricks (l) of the Real Estate Council of Austin and Alan Graham, president of Mobile Loaves & Fishes (Photo by John Anderson)

Disclosure time: Among BTP's numerous eccentricities is the fact that he's never had a driver's license, much less a car. (Call it carbon neutral before it was cool.) So when the word came down that charity org Mobile Loaves & Fishes, with an assist from the Real Estate Council of Austin, was building a planned community for Austin's chronically homeless – with the lease up for City Council approval today, Thursday, April 10 – my first thought was taking the bus out there, like all the future residents of Park Place Village will do.

Then I looked at the map.

Then I got a ride.

Mobile Loaves & Fishes founder and President Alan Graham says the trek to the nearest bus stop is a third of a mile, but trudging through the as-yet-undeveloped site – off of ridiculously pedestrian-unfriendly Ed Bluestein, south of MLK – it's apparent this ain't no curbside service (although Graham hopes to integrate service closer into the park upon its completion). Which raises the question: Is a project like Park Place Village immune from criticism? Ultimately, through a combination of "Park Home" tract-style abodes, KOA-esque "camping cottages," and good ol' fashioned recreational vehicles, the project hopes to take 150 of Austin's "chronically homeless" (those who have been on the streets for more than a year) into permanent housing. It's in line with the "housing first" paradigm of homelessness eradication, saying basic needs like food and shelter must be addressed before any other problems can.

Still, it's a little hard to look at the location – on city-owned land, miles from anything approximating a neighborhood – and not feel some mild trepidation. Tim Hendricks, RECA's point person on the project, was refreshingly honest, saying the "issue of isolation" from neighbors was paramount, referring to the dense brush and high overlook of the project as "the buffer" from others. (Not to mention the net benefit to RECA of moving 150 homeless souls away from Downtown.) And honestly, in the neighborhood-centric political realm, no one's clamoring to have this in their proverbial back yard.

Sponsored by City Council members Mike Martinez and Sheryl Cole, as well as Mayor Will Wynn, the item comes at a time of flux for the city's homeless policy: Recently, the city's Downtown panhandling ban was ruled unconstitutional, yet plans for a council-approved survey of solicitors is still in place. Paternalist, isolationist impulses or not, the council takes a tangible step toward helping with the homeless today, delivering what Graham calls "a new, very powerful tool to go into the toolbox." But in light of the legal ruling, and the ill-conceived survey, is it time to clean the rest of the toolbox out?

Item 47, initiating the Park Place lease, is the juiciest morsel from council this Thursday, April 10. Lee Leffingwell's measure to slash plastic-bag usage in half, via stepped-up recycling and reusable-bag promotion, is also on tap, as is a 2:30pm briefing on the Seaholm Power Plant redevelopment. (No RVs there, last we checked.)

BTP bivouacks at [email protected].