SAN ANTONIO — The City of San Antonio has performed more than 400 homeless encampment abatements since the start of the start of the fiscal year.
The city is on track to complete at least 700 homeless encampment sweeps by the end of October, according to Patrick Steck, assistant director of the city’s human services department.
“Our process then is to first get out to the site in person and assess it just to see what’s going on and see how many people are there, what they need. Sometimes we often see encampments that have already been abandoned,” Steck said. “If it is deemed a health and safety threat or issue for the community, we will schedule it for an abatement.”
The city’s online dashboard shows there were 680 abatements conducted in fiscal year 2023. The latest data for fiscal year 2024, which began in October, reveals 442 abatements performed.
February 2024 has seen the greatest number of abatements at 110 compared to 51 in November 2023.
Steck noted prioritized areas for abatements include neighborhoods, schools, and places where there’s been frequent crime activity.
The city’s online dashboard features a map of where all the abatements are completed, broken down by district and month, and indications of sites that have been abated more than once.
Steck said while other city departments report have reported issues with homeless encampments across San Antonio, the vast majority of reports come from community members calling 311. He also realizes not everyone may be open to help, at least immediately.
“We are offering the connections to services. We have a robust homeless response system of shelter options, housing options,” Steck said. “That’s why we’re consistently engaging with people to ultimately end their experience of homelessness. That’s the longterm solution.”
Meanwhile, a coalition of organizations like SAMMinistries, continue to push for the construction of more permanent supportive housing.