The City of Austin’s Homeless Strategy Office, in collaboration with the Austin Watershed Protection Department, compassionately closed an encampment within a high flash flood risk area of the Country Club Creek watershed near the intersection of Wickersham Lane and East Riverside Drive. The City welcomed 21 unhoused residents to the Northbridge and Southbridge shelters as part of the Housing-Focused Encampment Assistance Link (HEAL) Initiative, and 7 others to the Marshalling Yard Emergency Shelter through a separate encampment closure nearby. 

Austin Resource Recovery will be conducting general litter abatement throughout the area to further address accumulations of trash and debris in the vicinity of the creek channel.  

“The closure of this encampment provides our community’s unhoused residents with a pathway to stable shelter, and we remain committed to compassionate solutions,” said David Gray, Homeless Strategy Officer. 

The HEAL Initiative continues to be an essential part of the City’s ongoing efforts to end homelessness and provide stability and care to Austin’s most vulnerable residents. Since its launch in June 2021, the HEAL Initiative successfully moved more than 988 individuals from high-risk encampments to the City’s Northbridge and Southbridge shelters, as well as the Marshalling Yard Emergency Shelter. The closure of the encampment located at the Country Club Creek watershed area near Wickersham Lane and East Riverside Drive is part of the City’s broader strategy to address homelessness while returning public spaces to their intended use. 

The success of this encampment closure was a collaborative effort, with the Homeless Strategy Office’s outreach team working alongside the Austin Watershed Protection Department, Austin Police Department, the Austin Area Urban League, Endeavors and other community partners.

To learn more about homelessness in Austin, please visit www.austintexas.gov/homelessness.