Since he began his second stint as mayor in 2023, Kirk Watson has been considered a pragmatist, a problem solver. So the way he talks about homelessness is a bit surprising. Watson doesn’t open with how much money homelessness costs Austin residents or how it affects the city’s image. He begins by saying it hurts people.
“I truly believe that we have a humanitarian tragedy here,” Watson told the Chronicle in early September. “And we’re the only ones in a position to fix it. The federal government is cutting assistance programs, including rental assistance. The state is essentially doing nothing – it’s providing us no tools, no money, even in a time of great surplus – and it is going to make homelessness worse. We need to be prepared to try to help.”
The city’s homelessness problem is the principal reason Watson is asking Austinites to vote to raise property taxes. This summer, he and nine of the 10 City Council members passed a budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year that calls for a tax rate election in November. If voters approve the TRE, the city will increase taxes 5 cents more than state law would otherwise allow on each $100 of property value. A person who owns property worth around $500,000 would see an increase of $300 on the city’s portion of their annual property tax bill. Two hundred of those dollars would come from the 5-cent TRE. Advocates for the TRE kicked off a campaign this month – the “Love Austin So Much” Proposition Q campaign – to convince voters to support it…