#atxcouncil: COVID, Homelessness, and the ongoing lunacy

"If a ruler pays attention to lies,
All his servants become wicked."
Proverbs 29:12

Austonia has a write up this morning about a homeless encampment in central Austin. The whole thing is worth a read. But let's focus on this one sentence:

Due to the pandemic, however, the city has implemented a moratorium on clean-up efforts.

Can we take a second and reflect on how insane that is?!?

We had planned to write a long post on this topic, but apparently we did that in March:

Is this a joke?!?

At a time when 90% of the city is shut down due to a mayoral edict...they're going to allow homeless encampments to remain in place?!?

No, really...is this a joke?!?

We said our piece on this topic when they shut down #Sx, but it bears repeating: Under normal circumstances, we think the so-called 'public health' claims about homeless encampments are exaggerated. The real issue with the encampments is the petty crime and general unsightliness. In the current situation, however, homeless encampments ought to be the first place you look to shut down transmission of infectious diseases.

Instead, those are the one place that will be left completely alone.

Lunacy.

Here we are, almost six months later. The only thing that's changed is that we're now only about 50% closed.  And that edicts are coming from the governor as well as the mayor.

But we're still allowing homeless encampments to fester during a global pandemic.

Madness.

Bottom Line: It's astounding that, half a year into a global pandemic, we're still having this conversation...yet here we are.