At 2:30 today, the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition - or ECHO - will be discussing the results of their Point in Time count of people in Travis County experiencing homelessness. Ahead of that press conference, I will break down the data provided.

THREAD:

There was an overall 11 percent increase in people experiencing homelessness, from 2,255 in 2019 to 2,506 in 2020. The sheltered count decreased by 20 percent, but the unsheltered count increased by 45 percent.

Despite the big jumps in count, these charts show the percentage of the Travis County experiencing homelessness has remained flat - around 0.2 percent of the population - for the last decade, as the total county population has continued to climb.

These charts show which Austin districts and Travis County municipalities had the highest homeless count. District 9 includes Downtown.

This chart shows the city and county have increased housing in each of the last three years, including a nearly 8 percent increase from 2018 to 2019.

Despite the homeless percentage staying flat, Save Austin Now co-founder Matt Mackowiak says the 45 percent increase in unsheltered homelessness shows the city needs to reinstate the camping ban. He believes that would force them to focus even more on housing.

Mackowiak's group has a petition to get an ordinance on the November ballot that would reinstate the sit, lie, and camp ordinance to Downtown, the UT campus, and the surrounding area. That's on the Save Austin Now website.

As soon as the 2:30 ECHO press conference begins, we will update this thread with what their response is to the Point in Time Count.