Austin, TX
Austin company using AI to track homeless encampments in city
Austin company using AI to track encampments
Austin company Nomadik is tracking homeless encampments in the city with the help of artificial intelligence.
AUSTIN, Texas – An Austin company is using artificial intelligence to track homeless camps in the city.
“It gets around the need for human analysts to sift through the data that allows for human error,” Nomadik AI owner Morgan Winters said.
AI is currently being used for manufacturing, education, and transportation. The owners of the Austin company said, why not use it for a local issue, like homelessness?
“There’s only two of us, and it would be very hard to do this with two people,” Nomadik AI owner Trevor Sorrells said.
Homeless crisis in Austin continues
The number of permanent supportive housing units in Austin is projected to increase by over 600% by 2026, according to city data shared at Tuesday’s city council work session.
With the help of AI, they’re tracking homeless encampments in Austin.
“A lot of these nonprofits in the city and stuff like that don’t have really accurate data to both try to solve the problem and then try to accurately manage how well they’re solving the problem,” Sorrells said.
Winters and Sorrells have created the Nomadik app where people like Jamie Hammonds, the owner of DASH, can provide information.
“I will go to each camp, I will photograph it, do a quick little inventory and hit submit,” Hammonds said.
Then AI does the rest of the work.
“We’re taking in all of the inputs and then using our ML models in the background to parse through all of that,” Sorrells said.
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He said it builds a picture of the current state of that homeless encampment and how many people are there.
“There’s going to be a more accurate count than what they’re actually putting out,” Hammonds said.
The Austin Homeless Strategy Office said ECHO estimated in October about 6,600 homeless people in the city. Winters and Sorrells said they hope to help the homeless through the app.
“We want to partner with some nonprofits so that people can actually just request resources or check in so that there’s a layer of safety that the app includes where it’s like, I’m here, I want you to know I’m here so that people can come and reach out to me, because right now, unless you see it as you’re driving around, there’s not really a whole lot, there’s no window into actually what’s going on in these camps,” Sorrells said.
“I think it’s going to change the way homelessness is approached in the future,” Hammonds said.
The creators said the app is set to be released in March.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas’ highway system dropped two spots since 2025, and now ranks at No. 27 in the country for its cost-effectiveness and overall conditions, according to the Reason Foundation’s 2026 Highway Report.
The report assessed pavement conditions, fatalities, deficient bridges, infrastructure costs and congestion levels across the United States. Texas earned the following rankings:
- 33rd in urban interstate pavement conditions
- 21st in rural interstate pavement conditions
- 39th in urban arterial pavement conditions
- 12th in rural arterial pavement conditions
- 3rd in structurally deficient bridges
- 26th in urban fatality rate
- 42nd in rural fatality rate
- 41st in traffic congestion
“More than 42,000 of the nation’s 618,923 highway bridges, nearly 7%, are still structurally deficient. Arizona, Nevada, and Texas reported the lowest percentages of deficient bridges,” the report said.
The full report can be found online.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Small hail peppered the Austin area as strong thunderstorms moved through Saturday.
A few of the storms dropped rain and up to pea-sized hail in San Marcos, Dripping Springs and the Austin metro area.
A Severe Thunderstorm Warning was issued for Williamson County around 8:15 p.m., and then canceled shortly after. However, it was enough for the Two Step Inn music festival in Georgetown to cancel shows for the rest of the evening. Event organizers say the festival will run as planned Sunday.
KXAN’s First Warning Weather team is monitoring the storms. We will update this post as the evening continues.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas Society Sons of the American Revolution unveiled a new monument at the Texas State Cemetery on Saturday, dedicated to Texas Revolutionary War soldiers.
“We must educate every generation about why it is that America grew from a tenuous 13 colonies into the most powerful country in the history of the world,” said Governor Abbott. “This monument here is an enduring testament to the heroes who fought for the freedom that is unique to America.”
The monument was dedicated to 69 soldiers who fought in the American Revolutionary War and later settled in Texas, according to a press release.
Among those that were honored, Abbott recognized:
- José Santiago Seguín, grandfather of Texas Revolutionary hero Juan Seguín.
- Peter Sides, who fought in the 2nd Battalion of the North Carolina Regiment of the Colonial Army, and was later killed in the 1813 Battle of Medina, fighting for Mexican independence against Spain.
- Antonio Gil Y’Barbo, the founder of Nacogdoches.
- William Sparks, who fought as a mounted rifleman in the American Revolution and later settled in Texas. He had two sons and two grandsons who fought in the Texas Revolution.
“This year marks the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, which not only gave freedom to the British colonies of North America, but inspired movements for freedom and liberty all over the world,” said TSSAR President Mel Oller. “Texans played a role in the war too, and it’s important to recognize them, and the sacrifices they made for our freedom.”
At the monument unveiling, Abbott was also inducted into the Sons of the American Revolution and received its Silver Good Citizenship Medal.
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