Austin resident uses AI to track homeless camps as crisis skyrockets, millions spent

An Austin resident who has been documenting the city’s homeless crisis has helped develop an AI interactive map to track camps and communities.

Jamie Hammonds, who has been documenting the crisis through DASH Media, provided data to the group Nomadik, which developed a full-featured AI map. The map vividly depicts where homeless encampments are concentrated throughout the city. 

A map, powered by AI, provides a visual representation showing where Austin's homeless are concentrated.  (Nomadik)

Hammonds told Fox News Digital that the map "will become a tool that governments and non-profits can use in the future to predict patterns in the homeless communities." 

Nomadik founders Trevor Sorrells and Morgan Winters told Fox News Digital that data on Austin’s homeless population is either "fragmented or completely absent." 

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Consequently, they said, "there is a severe lack of understanding of what resources, interventions, and treatments are having an impact." 

"We are applying our skill sets in geospatial analytics and machine learning to shine a light on the issue. We want to make it easy for everyone to understand and contribute by enabling intelligent and effective outreach, giving everyone a voice and giving this issue the attention it deserves," the duo said in a joint statement. 

The city relocated the encampment's inhabitants in mid-August.  (Jamie Hammonds)

The creation of the map comes after the city’s homeless population skyrocketed in 2023. In January 2023, Austin’s homeless population was just under 2,400 people, according to a point-in-time count from the non-profit, Austin ECHO. 

By October, estimates were that around 6,600 people were experiencing homelessness in Austin or Travis County in a single day. That number accounted for both unsheltered homelessness – those sleeping in tents, cars, or abandoned buildings – and sheltered homelessness – those sleeping in emergency shelters or "transitional housing." 

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"I’ve been saying for a year now, the population is undercounted," Hammonds told Fox News Digital. "It’s an outrage that after spending millions, the city is now admitting how big the problem has become. It’s time for new policies that work." 

City officials told Fox News Digital that Austin has "placed a strong focus on homelessness." A city spokesperson said the city has recently completed a Homelessness Response Review that resulted in the creation of a stand-alone Homeless Strategy Office in December 2023. 

In an aerial view, the Sturgeon Supermoon rises over the downtown skyline on August 01, 2023 in Austin, Texas.  (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

The spokesperson said the city has forthcoming initiatives "to ensure that homelessness is rare, brief and nonrecurring." 

The spokesperson said the city regards the AI-powered map as "unreliable" because "the source data is not comprehensive and does not take into account factors contributing to migration or large encampment cluster resolution." 

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"Again, we are laser-focused on homelessness and have invested significant resources into developing strategies to address it," the city spokesperson said. "We are beginning to see progress and, with more permanent supportive housing in the pipeline and a commitment to working with our many community partners in this effort, we expect even more positive results in the near future." 

Fox News' Bryan Preston contributed to this report.