Austin voters banned homeless people from camping in public spaces. The city is creating housing for them but not fast enough.

An encampment in Roy G. Guerrero Park on Aug. 18. Austin police and city workers spent weeks visiting the encampment to connect dozens of people with housing options and tell others they would have to move. (Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune)

Early one morning in mid-August, police officers and cleanup crews met at Roy G. Guerrero Park in East Austin, where dozens of people have lived in tents and under tarps among the trees for months. Police and public health workers maneuvered ATVs along dirt trails, reminding people living there that they would have to leave soon.

Greg McCormack, a program manager for a city initiative that has moved dozens of people from the park and other encampments into shelter and eventually into housing, made the rounds. He knew there were not enough shelter beds for everyone there.