Jamie Hammonds, an investigative filmmaker and founder of Documenting Austins Streets and Homeless (DASH), has brought attention to the homeless problem in Austin, Texas, and its impact on greenbelt areas.
Hammonds shared videos on Twitter on Wednesday, showing a homeless encampment in the Violet Crown Trail that had been neglected for a year. The videos depict piles of trash, cars, trailers, mountains of garbage, needles, human waste, and hundreds of homeless people. Hammonds blamed city officials for exacerbating the problem, arguing that city policies have pushed people experiencing homelessness into greenbelt areas, out of the publics view. Consequently, many city dwellers are unaware of the problem.
"The problems there, its just that people cant see it. They dont realize how many people are actually in the woods," he said.
Hammonds, who has experienced homelessness himself, clarified that he was not out to shame the less fortunate but to keep pressure on city officials to provide them with shelter and services to help them get off the streets. He lamented the trails damage, noting that the "Crown Jewel of Austin" and greenspaces like it, made people forget they were in an urban area.
"It's destroyed. It will never be the same," Hammonds tweeted. A real-estate agent concurred, saying the "environmental damage from these camps is immense."
Hammonds reported that there are probably 300 people living in the woods, and their trail has been decimated and completely destroyed with trash. "You can smell these places in the summertime. These large homeless camps. The trash and stuff thats going up," he told Fox News Digital.
Hammonds videos have brought attention to the unseen impact of homelessness on greenbelt areas in Austin, Texas. His aim is to keep pressure on city officials to provide shelter and services to help the homeless get off the streets.
Login