Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced his intent to sue — and ultimately shut down — a homeless shelter in Austin that reportedly allows drug usage and lewd activities to take place within feet of an elementary school.
Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center is located next to Joslin Elementary School. The facility is reportedly a “magnet” for crime, drug abuse, and public indecency, according to the Daily Caller.
Violence stemming from Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center has taken place in the vicinity of and on elementary school grounds. People claim that individuals under the facility’s care have threatened individuals with machetes. There have been reports of break-ins at nearby homes and businesses as well as reports of public masturbation.
“Activities permitted by the center are drastically harming quality of life in the area and endangering neighborhood residents, local businesses, and the students of a nearby elementary school,” Paxton said in a press release.
In August, the city of Austin contributed more than a million taxpayer dollars to Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center for a 14-month grant. The grant has an extension option totaling $4.4 million in taxpayer funds to the homeless shelter.
Part of the criteria for the money was that the homeless shelter engages in “cultural competence/racial equity,” meaning that the center is forced to engage in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives to continue receiving funds.
The lawsuit also accuses the facility of encouraging drug use and illegal activity by distributing drug paraphernalia using taxpayer funds.
“Drug activity and criminal behavior facilitated by this organization have hijacked an entire neighborhood,” Paxton said. “By operating a taxpayer-funded drug paraphernalia giveaway next to an elementary school, this organization is threatening students’ health and safety and unjustly worsening daily life for every single resident of the neighborhood.”
“We will shut this unlawful nuisance behavior down,” he concluded.
