‘There’s a mission out here’ | Why residents, staff say the State’s homeless camp is working

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While Austin City Council is considering using public land for homeless camps, KVUE was catching up on the state of affairs at the state camp.

AUSTIN, Texas – Austin City Council is considering establishing public campsites in the city. It’s not a new idea: the Council has discussed it before, but nothing came of it.

But in 2019, the state designated a piece of land in southeast Austin, near Ben White Boulevard, as a camping site for the homeless. A lot has changed since it opened, including the name, which is now Camp Esperanza.

“It was pretty wild west out here,” said one resident who calls a hippie.

Hippie is the point of contact at Camp Esperanza, which means he’s responsible for walking around, getting to know people and helping them. He said he moved into the warehouse about three weeks after it opened and has seen it grow ever since.

“From about 30 people to almost 200 if you count the people passing through,” said Hippie.

Hippie said he believed the camp was working.

PHOTOS: Esperanza Community for the Homeless

“People get out. People go to Community First [Village] or return to their families or move on or whatever their lifestyle indicates, “said Hippie.” And I think it’s a wonderful achievement. It is exactly the right answer. It’s not too much. It is not too little. It deals with the problems that are built into this type of human experience. And I mean, it’s as good as it gets. “

Hippie attributes much of this success to The Other Ones Foundation.

“A lot has changed since we got here. As you can see behind us, there are some individual accommodations, there are 30 of them, and all of them have people in them right now,” said Max Moscoe of The Other Ones Foundation. “We’ve already got two people out of them and replaced two new people in them.”

The Other Ones Foundation put the camp into operation in August 2020. Since then, the camp has grown from a plot of land to a place where people have access to services and work opportunities.

“If you have case management, access to food, job opportunities, shelter, all of these things are in one central place – it’s not difficult to find, you don’t have to travel far to get there, it enables people to have something Traction and start getting out of that survival mode where all you think about is, ‘Where will I eat tonight? Where will I sleep tonight? ‘”Said Moscoe.” Once you get there, you can start thinking about a long-term plan and thinking about how to get more stability in your life. ”

Moscoe said the goal is to create a 200-unit temporary housing complex, which means people can come, find shelter and help, and eventually move into stable housing.

“If we want to lick this homelessness, we ultimately have to reinvest in public housing,” said Moscoe. “But it’s going to take a lot of time, a lot of legislation and a lot of investment. And it won’t happen overnight.”

KVUE asked Hippie what he thinks the answer to the homelessness solution is.

“I was wondering what an answer to homelessness could be. I don’t think we’ll ever fix it, but I think we have a good answer,” said Hippie of Camp Esperanza.

He said the camp has a purpose, which is why it works.

“This ain’t Burning Man, this ain’t a campground in America,” said Hippie. “There’s a mission out here and we have to watch out for that.”

Hippie said the mission is easy even if the solution to the problem is not so.

“Get out of here. Come back out, get your life back,” he said.

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