Read the full article Austin Leads the Way in Cutting Police Funding and Using the Money for Housing @truthout.org
“There were not that many cities that actually responded to the call to transform police budgets, and in those like Austin that did step up to that call in a significant way, we can now start showing the community the results. There are so many improvements to people’s lives that we can make just because we were willing to make moderate adjustments to the police budget,” Austin City Council Member Greg Casar told Truthout. “Throughout the whole campaign cycle, progressive cities were bashed by Trump and his allies for reconsidering their police budgets, I think now in the weeks to come, progressive cities can start showing the actual benefits.”
Austin City Council voted Thursday to use funds slashed from the police budget to purchase a hotel that will provide permanent supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness and to create an independent forensics lab separate from the police department.
The Council plans to buy hotels in every district and will soon move forward with proposals to move its 911 dispatch out of the police department. The Council provided additional funds for mental health first responders with Integral Care’s Expanded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team in 2019 to staff the city’s 911 call center, providing a fourth first-response option beyond EMS, fire and police. (Truthout observed on how that system works first-hand during a ride-along last year.)
