Thomas Martinez, Ervin Lemuel and Chris, who are homeless, are shown July 3 resting in their camp under U.S. 183 at Cameron Road. [JAY JANNER/AMERICAN-STATESMAN] ▲

Our homelessness challenge requires us to reintegrate vulnerable people who've lost their footing. People experiencing homelessness aren't "others." They are us. That tumble off the last rung of the social ladder might have begun with a lost job, a rent hike, a drug problem, a mental health issue, a family schism, a divorce, or a perfect storm of several hitting at once. The roots of homelessness lie in human fragility — a condition we all share.

Yet, many see embracing others as we would have others embrace us as ignoring legitimate concerns about our public spaces. I reject the suggestion that this is a forced choice. We will succeed against homelessness when we are successful with both.

Our homelessness challenge is becoming more chronic and visible as Austin becomes more unaffordable and bedrolls are replaced with tents. We must do better, but how? We've had some success. We've achieved "effective zero" veteran homelessness and helped half the homeless children off our streets.

Unfortunately, a lot of what we've done, empowered by ordinances, has been merely to move people around — from here to there and back again. A business owner calls the police. The police tell the person to move along. The immediate concern is handled as the person and the challenge shift out of view — but only for the moment.

Still homeless, she moves to a different door, neighborhood or overpass. Along the way, she loses belongings and a piece of her remaining dignity and hope. You and I spend millions of taxpayer dollars playing this perverse game of moving people around and solving nothing.

I refuse to play any longer. We can actually address both our concern for people and our concern for our public spaces. There is one simple answer. Want to help people? House them. Want to stop people sleeping in public spaces? House them.

EDITORIAL: United effort needed to house Austin's homeless

Courts recognize this, too. Across the country, ordinances are being invalidated that outlaw people camping in public places if the government can't tell them where they should go instead.

To prevent camping, sitting and lying in certain locations, we need to provide better and safer places for people experiencing homelessness to be, with the appropriate social services. That's the deal, the quid pro quo, the social compact we must achieve. The council laid the groundwork in June to start the process in August of finding those better and safer places. This social compact is one piece of the comprehensive solution needed to actually address the challenge and stop relying on band-aids for symptoms.

We can do this. Austin's unhoused numbers are not overwhelming — about 2,200 people experience homelessness on any given night, a 4% increase from last year. Seattle, with 200,000 fewer people, has six times our number in their homeless population. The national average yearly increase was 5%; Dallas was at 9%. Los Angeles' homeless population increased 16% to almost 40,000 people.

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During recent visits to Los Angeles and Seattle, Mayors Eric Garcetti and Jenny Durkan told me they wish their cities had acted more decisively and earlier. Their cities, they warned, relied too much on half-measures and ordinances that dealt with symptoms, not solutions. Sound familiar?

Achieving real results requires difficult decisions and community and political will. It won't be easy to prioritize needed spending on housing and wraparound services because of competing needs. It won't be easy to place housing because there will be opposition to any location. Our goal must be to address neighborhood concerns, rather than be stymied by them.

Let's also be clear. Police must be able to arrest and ticket anyone creating a public safety or health risk, and the City Council's June vote specifically preserved these tools. Shame on those who suggest otherwise.

I believe the recent community-wide conversation about the June council actions has sufficiently elevated the homelessness issue to forge the will to act meaningfully and decisively. We must take advantage of this moment.