{"id":27717,"date":"2021-02-05T16:04:04","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T16:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=7d1ba6068881a3cf5c0aff813757ccba"},"modified":"2021-02-05T16:04:04","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T16:04:04","slug":"austin-leads-the-way-in-cutting-police-funding-and-using-the-money-for-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/02\/05\/austin-leads-the-way-in-cutting-police-funding-and-using-the-money-for-housing\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Leads the Way in Cutting Police Funding and Using the Money for Housing"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Medics<\/a>

Austin City Council voted Thursday to use funds slashed from the police budget to purchase a hotel<\/a> that will provide permanent supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness and to create an independent forensics lab<\/a> separate from the police department.<\/p>\n

The hotel is the fourth the Texas city has purchased for supportive housing since 2019. Under the measure, the city will spend approximately $9.5 million from its Housing and Planning Department\u2019s general obligation bonds to acquire Candlewood Suites in District 6 and turn it into about 80 units of permanent supportive housing.<\/p>\n

Last week, the Council voted to buy the Texas Bungalows Hotel & Suites in District 7 for $6.5 million, which will eventually support about 60 units of permanent housing. The hotels are not expected to reach full occupancy until next year.<\/p>\n

The funding for the hotels uses money from a recurring $6.5 million fund taken from the Austin Police Department\u2019s (APD) budget to provide wraparound services for residents. In August, the City Council voted<\/a> to cut $150 million from the APD\u2019s budget, with the bulk of the $21.5 million the city dedicated to housing and violence prevention programs siphoned from canceling cadet classes, reducing overtime spending and nixing contracts for surveillance tools like license plate readers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere 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\u2019s lives that we can make just because we were willing to make moderate adjustments to the police budget,\u201d Austin City Council Member Greg Casar told Truthout<\/em>. \u201cThroughout 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city also voted and move about $11.9 million from the APD\u2019s budget into a new Forensic Science Department, creating an independent forensics lab separate from the police department. The move does not eliminate any of the functions in the forensic lab \u2014 it simply ensures that the lab is administered independently.<\/p>\n

Casar offered an amendment to clarify the language of the ordinance to establish that the lab\u2019s purpose is not only to collaborate with law enforcement when appropriate, but to provide crime lab and evidence management services in an unbiased manner in the pursuit of truth and justice \u2014 wherever it leads.<\/p>\n