Video shot by a whistleblower showed a homeless shelter in Austin, Texas, brimming with guns, drugs and drug paraphernalia, as the liberal city grapples with a worrying rise in homelessness.
Former city employee Andrea Gipson recorded several videos inside the Northbridge homeless center throughout 2023 before being placed on administrative leave on July 31 after complaining about conditions at the shelter.
“Drug use, prostitution. Attacks are happening. There are people being drugged and robbed in the same place,” Gipson told KVUE.
Their revealing videos showed the shelter in disrepair, with vandalized rooms, guns on window sills, collections of used needles, drug paraphernalia, machetes and knives strewn everywhere.
Additionally, shelter residents have been accused of cooking drugs in their rooms, taking drugs, engaging in prostitution, and overdosing within the facility, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
The Northbridge shelter in Austin, Texas, is under investigation after whistleblower Andrea Gipson sent a city council member photos and videos of guns and drugs inside the facility. Andrea Gipson
Residents have also been accused of cooking drugs on the premises. Andrea Gipson
“The drug use is out of this world. It’s nothing to walk into a client’s room and see someone about to put a needle in your arm or your neighbor’s arm. Smoking methamphetamine, coke, crack… any type of drug. There are fentanyl users. There is drug activity and dealers and drug deals happening right outside the doors every day,” Gipson told KVUE.
The Democratic-run city is facing a disturbing rise in homelessness, with about 10,000 people living on the streets in the Austin metropolitan area, representing 1% of the entire population, according to the city.
As a result, there has been an explosion in homeless encampments, with 168 different encampments spread across the state capital, sources previously told The Post.
Gipson’s revealing videos showed the shelter in disrepair, with vandalized rooms, guns on window sills, collections of used needles, drug paraphernalia, machetes and knives strewn throughout the Northbridge shelter. Andrea Gipson
The Austin-based shelter, like those in many other liberal cities, has been overrun by the homeless and drug crises, causing widespread chaos among locals. Andrea Gipson
The invaded shelter is now causing great chaos among the locals.
Councilmember Mackenzie Kelly, to whom Gipson sent the evidence, emailed acting City Manager Jesús Garza calling for an investigation into the Northbridge shelter, writing: “It has been brought to my attention that there have been several deaths inside the facility, allegedly related to drug overdose.
“It is disturbing that there have been accusations of customers attacking each other, and even the presence of weapons such as machetes, knives and hammers.”
Kelly called the shelter’s alleged problems “deeply troubling.”
Councilwoman Mackenzie Kelly called for an audit of the shelter (above). The city of Austin has spent nearly $81 million on homelessness in recent years, but the homeless population has only increased. austintexas.gov
Garza told the Austin American-Statesman that his department has “instructed the appropriate personnel to go there and make sure that those types of things, at least the ones described in the notes that we have received, are not happening.”
Kelly also requested an audit of the shelter’s expenses. The city’s last audit took place in September 2021, but “there was not a complete inventory of agreements and expenses associated with the city’s homeless assistance efforts.”
Kelly (above) called the photos and videos “deeply concerning.” austintexas.gov
Kelly is the only Republican member of liberal Austin’s 11-member city council. The mayor, Kirk Watson, is also a Democrat.
Austin officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
The shelters are required to provide three hot meals a day to residents, but photos inside Northbridge show a different story, with undercooked chicken, raw sausages and meals consisting mostly of white rice.
Austin spent millions to address the homeless crisis in the Democratic city over the past few years, allocating a record $80.9 million for the 2023-24 fiscal year, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn