AUSTIN, TX — Amid growing pressure from the governor for Austin to toughen its rules related to people living on the streets, police are scheduled to inform homeless members of a downtown encampment their makeshift community will be demolished by next week, Patch has learned.

Members of law enforcement, city officials and advocates for the homeless have quietly been meeting in the past few days at the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH) building on 500 E. 7th St. to develop strategies on dealing with the growing homeless problem, a well-placed source told Patch. To that end, those living in tents across the ARCH — which serves as the first point of entry into the social service system — will be displaced from the makeshift shantytown of sorts that has popped up since the city council relaxed the rules related to the homeless. "Most of them are not our clients," a source working at the ARCH building said. "Some are people who don't use our shelter but hang out."

Tents set up on Neches Street between 7th and 8th streets will be collapsed ahead of police enforcement action scheduled for next Monday, according to the source. Before next week's planned police enforcement, social workers will begin informing residents living in tents along the corridor of plans to demolish the makeshift community and their subsequent displacement. A trash bin will be delivered to the site, and people will be given the chance to voluntarily dispose of items, the source said. Police, though, will eventually ensure everything gets removed.

A row of tents is lined up along Neches Street between 7th and 8th streets since the city relaxed its rules on such makeshift housing. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff Patch reached out to the Austin Police Department for comment, but officials did not immediately respond.

According to information provided to Patch, police Chief Brian Manley was not among those at a meeting with 15 top-ranking department officials last Monday. On Friday morning, ARCH hosted a three-hour meeting with virtually every community organization dealing with the homeless — Front Steps, Caritas, CommUnityCare and others — with some 60 people in attendance at the ARCH cafeteria, Patch was told.

Also in attendance for the latter meeting was Congressman Chip Roy, a Republican lawmaker representing the state's 21st congressional district. The district encompasses a wide swath of territory, from the area north of San Antonio to a significant portion of Austin. Some speculated Roy might have been there as a surrogate for Gov. Greg Abbott — who in the last few days has intensified his demands that Austin rethink its decision to relax rules on the homeless.

The rules were relaxed in an effort to decriminalize homelessness — police long had issued tickets for sitting or lying on sidewalks or setting up tents. Now homeless people are allowed on sidewalks as long as they're not obstructing pedestrians' paths, though city crews recently have narrowed sidewalks close to the ARCH to deter homeless people from using them to sit or lie down. The loosened rules also allow for homeless people to set up camp, although a ban on doing so in parks and other recreation areas is still in effect.