In July, Austin Homeless Strategies and Operations released a report detailing the progress made during the renewed sweeps that began this spring. The memo outlines the number of camps Homeless Encampment Management teams visited between May 11 and June 5, the total debris moved by the teams, how many individuals were connected to shelter and service providers, and more. What it doesn’t show is how many camps were actually cleared, Austin Homeless Strategies and Operations Deputy Director Christopher Anderson told the Chronicle.
According to the report, there were 456 total “site visits” by HEM teams, as well as 127 “unique site visits” during the rollout of the department’s plans. Initial coverage of the renewed sweeps indicated that the 127 figure is the number of sites that were cleared, but according to Anderson, the number is likely to be much higher because many sites contain multiple encampments. “We had an internal debate about how to track that,” he said.
A handful of encampment sites listed in the memo did not qualify as cleared because they had not yet been maintained for at least 30 days when the report was published, but “pretty much all of them have been cleared,” he continued.
The report defines site visits as the “total number of visits conducted by HEM teams, including repeat visits to the same site,” and unique site visits as the “total number of distinct encampment sites visited during the reporting period.”
According to an HSO spokesperson, a site is defined as “an area or contiguous series of encampments where cleanup resources can be dispersed at once without the need to relocate the equipment,” while an encampment is “a public area used for living accommodation purposes.” Indications of an encampment include evidence of long-term habitation like tents and other shelters, campfires, personal belongings stored for an extended period, and “digging or earth-breaking activities.”
Anderson confirmed that future reports will include a metric that distinguishes encampment and site clearances from total and unique site visits.
HSO Director David Gray has said that a single clearance can cost up to $150,000. Anderson could not tell us how many clearances reached Gray’s cost ceiling but said that most camps are “relatively small abatements,” like a few tents along a creek bed or some bedrolls underneath an overpass. Larger ones can span entire intersections and contain semi-permanent structures, he explained.
“Those are those rare exceptions, the larger sites, based on the total amount of work that we’re doing,” the deputy director explained, adding that many encampments can be cleaned up “in a matter of minutes.”
During a July 22 City Council work session, Gray estimated HEM operations would cost about $707,000 in fiscal year 2026-27, with the average unique site visit being “just north” of $5,500. During that same work session, Austin Police Commander Lee Davis said that 10 of 17 Austin Police district representatives were now permanently assigned to HEM teams. City Council Member Ryan Alter, who has questioned the city’s HEM strategy, said this means officers are now being diverted from previous responsibilities. “Now they’re doing this other work, and so that’s a resource we don’t have available right now,” he told the Chronicle.
HEM teams that were previously staffed by employees from other departments have been consolidated under HSO as well, according to Alter. While he generally supports their integration into HSO, he noted that the formalized HEM teams are less able to respond to reports of abandoned encampments on short notice due to the more rigid schedule now imposed on them.
With HSO’s next report scheduled for Oct. 1, Alter said he would also like to see the department improve how they track repeat contact with individuals who had previously refused shelter access. “How much are we playing Whac-a-Mole versus how much are we making systemic progress?” he asked.
This article appears in August 14 • 2026.
