Astros fans headed to Minute Maid Park are likely to find an even larger tent city of homeless people beneath the 59 overpass, despite Mayor Sylvester Turner's pledge to clear the area earlier this year.
City Council passed ordinances to both remove tent cities and panhandlers, but Councilman Michael Kubosh says that plan is stuck in litigation.
“The federal court has intervened and there's been a stay, so consequencly there was no implementation of that ordinance which was passed,” says Kubosh.
“They could not have walked in between cars and could not have approached cars on moving lanes of traffic, but a lot of that has been stayed now, so there's nothing we can do about it.”
A hearing on the ACLU's challenge is scheduled later this month.
Meanwhile, Thao Costis with SEARCH Homeless Services says Harvey only compounded the issue – along with the generosity of offering tents after the storm.
“Unfortunately it also does create this tent city type of community,” she says. “People have re-established in places where we had made progress prior to Harvey.”
Housing also become a premium for displaced flood victims.
“Many of these apartments units are having to be renovated after some floods and damage, so it is a double whammy,” says Costis.