AUSTIN, Texas — Austin’s new homeless strategy officer hopes to bring a fresh perspective to the city, as local leaders work to effectively tackle the issue of homelessness.
- City hires new homeless strategy officer
- Working to solve the city's homeless issues
- City decriminalized homlessness in June
After less than three weeks on the job, Lori Pampilo Harris is discussing her plans moving forward and the broader solutions to homelessness that have been identified nationally.
Harris, who worked for 14 years at Habitat for Humanity International, most recently served as the Senior Advisor on Homelessness and Social Services to the mayor of Orlando, Florida.
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“I believe that what I see in Austin are all the elements that we need to have a positive path forward,” Harris said. “I’m very optimistic about the future for the city of Austin, when it comes to this complex issue.”
In Central Florida, she was part of the effort that reduced the homeless population in Orlando by about 24 percent in a single year. Harris told Spectrum News what she believed it would take to decrease the number of people living on the streets of Austin.
“In communities across the country who are grappling with this issue, there's a few elements that really make that crisis response system work. The first is having a really strong lead agency and here that’s ECHO. Communities make sure that the lead agency is scaffold with what they need to create a strong Crisis Response System, and the providers are all working under that orchestration. The second and this is really key is that not only at the local level, but at the state and federal level, that there's strong investments around affordable housing, and affordable housing beyond permanent supportive housing, affordable housing, every income level in every zip code,” she said.
In the coming weeks, Harris said she will be familiarizing herself with how providers in Austin respond to crisis and comparing that with data. She said she wants to determine if the available resources reflects the needs of those experiencing homelessness.
“Housing First is already a philosophy that is adopted and embraced here in the City of Austin and with our community partners, but there has to be options for everyone, and that includes prevention and diversion,” she said. “Looking at those front doors. What's causing somebody to come into our system? Is there a way that we can divert or prevent that?”
Harris’s move into Austin, comes as city council members grapple with restrictions to camping. In June, the city council voted to decriminalize homelessness and has faced intensifying criticism since.
“The homeless Strategy Office is not here to provide legal advice to city council, nor will it tell Austin Police Department how to enforce any laws. Our role, and what I believe that the community is really asked for, if you look at the core of it, is how do we end somebody experiencing homelessness as quickly as possible. So the focus of our office is to work on that crisis response system,” she said.