Abbott: State will 'defer to Austin' on sheltering people during homeless camp sweeps

Editor's Note: The above video is KXAN's previous coverage of the state's clean-up of homeless camps in Austin.

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- During an early voting news conference Friday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott fielded several questions from news outlets about sending state resources into Austin to clear homeless encampments.

One question KXAN has been asking the governor's office all week: When the state comes to clear out homeless encampments, where are people being relocated?

During that news conference, the governor said the state will "defer to Austin for the locations that they want to send them" but also said the state has prepared "different locations in the event that Austin is unable to provide them." Abbott did not specify where those backup locations were.

"As you all probably know and maybe you've reported, the city of Austin is stepping up to help address the locations and we will defer to them as long as the homeless are being removed from the encampments," Abbott said. We have reported that the city of Austin offered to help Texas shelter people during encampment sweeps, as well as provide city resources. They told us they hadn't heard back from the state on that offer.

Abbott was also asked Friday whether the state was providing people at those camps with resources.

"This dates back like a decade ago. I've been dealing with this as governor with administrations prior to the current administration and we have never stopped that engagement. What we did stop is tolerating the danger that's being posed to citizens who live in the Austin area or who travel here from other areas. We want to make sure we're making the community as safe as possible," he responded.

Earlier this week, Austin leaders expressed frustration that the state was not communicating with them as they worked through that initiative -- and that the lack of communication ultimately led to some overlap in resources.

"One thing I can assure you is that the city of Austin has long known exactly where I stand and what I will do. They've seen me do it actually before here in Austin. So this isn't the first time I've stepped up and done something. Listen, it's erroneous to talk about duplication of resources. There's inadequate resources ... we need all hands on deck to be able to address this problem right now," Abbott said.