Marketplace®

Daily business news and economic stories

Local Money: Austin wrestles with its homeless problem

The conversation sparked after the murder of a University of Texas undergraduate by a homeless man

Downtown Austin
Downtown Austin
Milbot 79/Flickr

No one knows your neighborhood better than you do, which is why we started our Local Money project. We want to hear about the big money story that’s happening in your city. Submit our next topic here:

 

This week, we’re looking at Austin, Texas. After the murder of a University of Texas undergraduate by a homeless man, the city and its residents are debating how to address its homeless problem. 

Kriston Capps wrote about the issue for The Atlantic’s CityLab:

Tanner Golden launched his petition to relocate the homeless population of Austin last November. But it only gained traction this week, after details emerged about the death of Haruka Weiser, a student at the University of Texas at Austin who was murdered on campus. The lead suspect in the case, a 17-year-old man named Meechaeiel Criner, is homeless. Last Friday, he was arrested at a nonprofit shelter and later charged with Weiser’s murder.

In the short time since Criner’s arrest, Golden’s anti-homeless petition has become a forum for concerned students, residents and parents wrestling with Weiser’s death. According to Change.org, most all of the nearly 2,500 signatures came on or after April 9, the day after Criner’s arrest.

Related Topics

Latest Episodes

View All Shows
  • How We Survive
    2 hours ago
    14:10
  • Million Bazillion
    5 hours ago
    31:13
  • Marketplace Morning Report
    7 hours ago
    7:05
  • Marketplace Tech
    12 hours ago
    6:10
  • Marketplace
    a day ago
    25:59
  • Make Me Smart
    a day ago
    19:16
  • This Is Uncomfortable
    2 months ago
    37:19
  • Financially Inclined
    2 months ago
    12:30
  • The Uncertain Hour
    4 months ago
    22:50
  • Corner Office from Marketplace
    5 years ago
    20:58