Encampment Decommissioning

The City began to pilot an Encampment Decommissioning Initiative in September 2026 to address high-priority and recurring homeless encampments.

The initiative is a trauma-informed model to engage with unsheltered neighbors and create individualized transition plans for behavioral health, housing, workforce and supportive-service needs.

The decommissioning initiative is separate from the City's broader encampment response process, which focuses on addressing immediate health and safety concerns associated with encampments.

Goals

The goals of the initiative are to:

• Help unsheltered neighbors living at the encampment to transition to better living situations.
• Reduce the costs of repeated abatements at recurring locations.
• Strengthen coordination of services between homeless response partners and other sectors.
• Support the sustained closure of high-priority encampment sites.

Abatement versus Decommission

While both encampment abatements and decommissions involve addressing unsheltered encampment sites, they differ significantly in purpose and approach.

Encampment Abatement

An encampment abatement provides unsheltered neighbors with a 48-hour notice of a site cleaning.

Encampment Decommission

An encampment decommission is a 4 to 8-week intensive engagement process with unsheltered neighbors to develop a transition plan with each person living on the site before a permanent closure of the encampment location.

Not every encampment scheduled for an abatement will be selected for decommissioning. Sites will be selected for decommissioning based on criteria that include high recurrence, safety risk, resident vulnerability, and community impact.

Decommission Process

1. Site Identified for Decommission

   A site will be reviewed and selected for decommission. Priority parameters include frequency of prior abatements, length of time of encampment existence, health and safety risks.

2. Partner Engagement

   Partners who assist in the process will be notified and convened for coordination and interventions.

3. Needs Assessment

   The HSSD Homeless Clinical Outreach Team will conduct a needs assessment of each of the unsheltered neighbors living at the encampment.

   The unsheltered neighbors will be given notice and a timeline of the process and resources. Engagement and assessments will include understanding housing needs, physical and behavioral health needs, legal challenges, transportation needs, pet needs and more.

4. Service Connection

   As transition plans are developed, residents are connected to the support needed for a successful transition.

5. Encampment Abatement

   With prior notice, remaining items from the encampment are removed in accordance with regular abatement procedures.

6. Closure Maintenance

   The site will remain closed to encampments through monitoring by HSSD and enforcement by San Antonio Police Department, as appropriate.