As Austin grows, so does its homeless population. Homelessness happens for many reasons. It may be an unexpected large bill, escaping an abusive relationship, addiction, mental illness or job loss. Austin is not an inexpensive city to live in. Rent for a one bedroom apartment near public transportation is simply not affordable for someone working a minimum wage job. Rooms for rent are often not affordable. Some of our homeless residents are fortunate enough to have tents to protect them from the elements but where can they camp, be near food and services as well as public transportation? Some choose to live outdoors because the shelters are full or not safe. The answer is that no one has found the right answer.
Photographer Jay Janner has been documenting the homeless crisis since the Spring of 2019. He has met people and listened to their stories. He has helped lost friends be found and sheltered. His photos reassured a mother across the country that her son was alive and well when she could not get in touch with him. Janner has seen public support, fear and outrage. He has worked hard to remain impartial and simply document what he is seeing, which may or may not be what the public is seeing. The homeless residents of Austin are our neighbors and need help finding a safe and secure place to live.
-Nell Carroll, Director of Visuals
Homeless people rest on the sidewalk across the street from the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless on November 5, 2019, a day after city crews removed most of the homeless people and their tents from a camp outside the homeless shelter.
James Prince, who has been homeless for two years, lays down on the sidewalk on East 8th Street under I-35 on October 29, 2019. Prince said he heard about Gov. Greg Abbott's plan to clear out the homeless camps under overpasses, and he may move back to his hometown of Lake Charles, Louisiana.
A homeless person's tent is set up on East 2nd Street near Brazos Street in downtown Austin on October 28, 2019.
First responders help a homeless woman who was having a medical emergency at Neches and East 6th streets a block away from the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless on October 18, 2019.
Hot Water Slim walks in the homeless camp where he lives under U.S. 290 near West Gate Boulevard on July 3, 2019.
Sonia Aranda and her 12-year-old son, Justin Fortune, who are homeless, panhandle at Walmart on East Ben White Boulevard on May 9, 2019. Instead of sitting in a classroom like most kids his age, learning grammar and algebraic equations, Justin is begging for money with his mom and her boyfriend, Jonathan Rodriguez, in Southeast Austin. Aranda, 37, said the family moved to Austin in April, after her aunt kicked them out of her home in Dallas. "I thought there would be more help here," Rodriguez said. "I guess I was wrong." Neither Aranda nor Rodriguez, who works in construction, have been able to find jobs in Austin. Now, the family sleeps in abandoned houses.
Austin police investigate after a homeless man died in a tent under I-35 near Cesar Chavez Street on October 31, 2019. He was discovered the morning after the first freeze of the season. The death is not suspicious, and is under investigation.
Gregory Mack, 60, sits in a drainage tunnel under East Riverside Drive on May 9, 2019. At any given time, more than half a dozen people call the tunnel home. Mack said he lived in the tunnel for many years, but not anymore. A few months ago, his leg started to swell from an old gunshot wound, and he had to check into a hospital. Doctors put him in a skilled nursing facility, where he stays now. But, he still goes down to the tunnels almost every day to see his friends. "We have a bond," he said. "It's about togetherness."
Amber Price, a community health paramedic with Austin-Travis County EMS, hugs Lynnee Watkins, who is homeless, after giving him his medications on East 6th Street on August 13, 2019. Price is a member of the HOST Team, a coalition of Austin-Travis County EMS, the Austin Police Department, Integral Care and Community Court who offer services to homeless people.
Roxanne Novick checks on her husband Bret Bourland in a homeless camp at East Ben White Boulevard and South Congress Avenue on May 9, 2019. Roxanne Novick spent most of the morning moving all her possessions to the side of the road along East Ben White Boulevard. Police said her makeshift home in the brush between the highway and the frontage road was an "eyesore." She and her husband had to move. The couple had been living in the shady area near Congress Avenue for five years in a trail of tarps, chairs and mattresses strewn in the dirt hardly visible from the road. Novick, 54, said she used to have a home and her husband a business. They lost both when Bourland caught his partner embezzling money and she was hospitalized after being hit by a car. Medical bills piled up, and they've been on the streets ever since.
Homeless people who recently died on the streets of Austin are remembered at the Homeless Memorial Tree at Vic Mathias Shores on November 18, 2019.
Austin police officers Gilbert Caraballo, left, and Mark Pircher detain a homeless man, who Caraballo identified as Fabian Garza, at a homeless camp on U.S. 290 near South Congress Avenue on October 15, 2019. A caller reported to police that a man matching Garza's description was carrying a gun but when police arrived they did not find any weapons. Garza was questioned and released after briefly being detained.
Claudia Cuchia exchanges words with homeless man in the parking lot of a Target store at U.S. 290 and Pack Saddle Pass on November 6, 2019. Cuchia said she was angered by the homeless people camping under the highway. After they were removed from their camp under the overpass so Texas Department of Transportation workers could clean the camp, the homeless people moved to the Target parking lot where Cuchia shops.
Michelle moves her belongings from the homeless camp under U.S. 290 at West Gate Boulevard while DPS troopers watch Texas Department of Transportation workers clean up the camp on November 4, 2019.
William Rainey waits with all of his belongings while Texas Department of Transportation workers clean up the homeless camp at U.S. 290 at West Gate Boulevard on November 4, 2019.
A homeless man falls to his knees in prayer on the sidewalk at U.S. 290 and Pack Saddle Pass after being removed from his homeless camp so TxDOT workers could clean the camp on November 6, 2019.
A homeless man yells at police officers who came to the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless on October 28, 2019, to inform the people living outside the shelter about the city's new camping ban that went into effect that day. New city rules make it illegal for homeless people to live on the streets near the homeless shelter.
Donna Lee Willis, 60, who said she has been homeless off and on all her life, rests inside her shelter in what appears to be a storage shed at a state lot on U.S. 183 about a mile south of Montopolis Drive on November 25, 2019.
Enrique Ponce, who has been homeless for two years, dries off after taking a shower with a shower bag inside a portable toilet at a state lot on U.S. 183 about a mile south of Montopolis Drive on November 25, 2019. Ponce, a former truck driver in Dallas, said he came to Austin after becoming homeless when he lost his commercial drivers license due to citations he couldn't afford to pay. He said is working as a cook and dishwasher and is continuing to pay off his fines.
Jacob Medaris, 23, rests in his shelter in what appears to be a storage shed at a state lot on U.S. 183 about a mile south of Montopolis Drive on November 25, 2019. Medaris said he is originally from Russia and he came to Austin after a troubled childhood in Houston.