While teaching KSAT reporter Courtney Friedman how to paint, Sumon Bines-Karki’s quiet demeanor blossomed as he opened up about his difficulties and how his art got him through it.

Troy Dahman is a Texas native and a Navy veteran. However, after leaving the Navy and working elsewhere in San Antonio, he had a mental health crisis and began experiencing homelessness.

The city planned for 700 cleanups this year. It passed 1,100 and is planning 1,300 for FY 2025.

With recent crime downtown, local organizations are pushing their outreach efforts to unsheltered people.

The population of people experiencing homelessness in our area continues to grow, meaning more people are having to endure the elements.

A San Antonio survey of the population experiencing homelessness reveals hundreds are women and children escaping domestic violence situations.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to allow cities to enforce general bans on public camping, which are often aimed at homeless people, does not appear likely to affect San Antonio.

The ruling comes amid a nationwide surge in homelessness as high rents put pressure on low-income households and pandemic-era protections expire.

“Panhandling. It’s OK to say NO,” state the signs on Wurzbach Road, Huebner Road, De Zavala Road, and La Cantera Parkway. The signs feature a crossed-out image of money changing hands over a plea to donate to local charities instead.

New anti-panhandling signs are showing up on the Northwest Side to deter drivers from the practice.

The portal is a part of the City’s Strategic Housing Implementation Plan.

In Fiscal Year 2024 so far, city crews have completed more than 500 homeless encampment abatements.

There have already been 520 cleanups in San Antonio between October 2023 through March 2024, and the city’s director of human services estimates that could reach “probably 1,000 to 1,100″ by the end of the 2024 fiscal year.

When you walk into the shop, it feels like you're in a nice clothing store. While the clothes are brand new, they're not for sale. The shoppers are at-risk, foster, trafficked or homeless youth.

SAMMinistries’ 200-unit permanent supportive housing gets $3.9M in Bexar County ARPA funds.

The Leon Valley police chief says the department fields dozens of calls a year related to homelessness. He's hoping a new street outreach program will help the city with its already limited resources.

Georgia DeVries, an East Texas 17-year-old, shared her experience living in a car for one month last year on TikTok.

As the homeless shelters pack with people escaping the cold, substance use recovery teams are seeing an opportunity. Volunteers can now offer resources to a larger network of people at Corazon Ministries’ Day Center.

Local nonprofits are hitting the streets to get those experiencing homelessness off the streets on a frigid night.

Living outside in the elements can be tough, but people experiencing homelessness say temperatures this low can be deadly. That's why shelters across the county are opening up day and night shelters.

Homelessness rose last year across nearly every demographic group, but strides were made to connect people with new housing.

The deaths included people living on the streets or in shelters, with ages ranging from 94 years old down to an 11-day-old infant.

This East Side neighborhood is home to an ecosystem of social service organizations. With more than five of these groups catered to helping the homeless population, some neighbors worry the number of people without shelter in the neighborhood will only climb.

As part of the SAFFE unit — an acronym for San Antonio Fear Free Environment — Officer Carlos Gutierrez is tasked with trying to prevent crime before it happens.

The view of downtown from many of the homes in the Dignowity Hill neighborhood is second to none, but they also have a front-row seat to some of the city’s biggest issues: homelessness, gentrification and rising property taxes.

This edition of Know My Neighborhood explores the push and pull of preservation versus progress, the heart of a neighborhood in transition and the struggle for the community to define itself.

Tens of thousands of people sat down to Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, courtesy of one charitable organization.

A local Marine veteran is proving you can break the cycle of homelessness and addiction. His success landed him in a local photography exhibit, and he's using the platform to remind struggling veterans, they are not in this alone.

This week is Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week, and San Antonio area nonprofits and agencies are teaming up to house 90 homeless families in 90 days.

A Holiday Inn employee said hotel staff learned of the plan through KSAT’s reporting. Official word from management didn’t come down until the next day, they said.

Just days after San Antonio City Council members approved a $15.9 million plan to use a downtown hotel as a 200-room, low-barrier homeless shelter, the childcare center next door says it is “outraged.”

Less than four months ago, we met 66-year-old Nathan Finley at Haven for Hope. He had been living on the streets for over 10 years. Now, thanks to a new Haven for Hope program, he's in a new apartment.

San Antonio’s city-funded low-barrier homeless shelter will move to a larger, leased hotel downtown where it will have more than four times as many rooms.

Haven for Hope, the largest homeless shelter in San Antonio, is operating at capacity.

The city council passed the $3.7 billion spending plan for fiscal year 2024 Thursday morning in a 10-0-1 vote. It will take effect Oct. 1 at the beginning of the 2024 fiscal year.

The City of San Antonio plans to ramp up its use of a controversial strategy in handling its homelessness problem.

The economy's downturn and rising housing prices have left many senior citizens homeless, and Haven for Hope is seeing a spike in older clients.

Three teens in three exceptionally tough situations have risen above. The students separately ended up at Haven for Hope alone this past year, without family members to accompany them. Now, they are high school graduates.

The South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless has released this year’s Point-In-Time Count results. It’s a one-night snapshot that provides information about those experiencing homelessness.

The South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless (SARAH) will present the 2023 State of Homelessness in San Antonio & Bexar County.

A longtime resident of San Antonio’s Deco District says the constant presence of a homeless encampment in the alley behind his home is negatively impacting his daily life.

YWCA San Antonio says 30 women, including some with children, could be housed in the former St. Andrew's convent by the end of March.

Activists who work with unhoused people noted improvements in the city’s planning and coordination, but said shelters were difficult to reach for some and couldn’t accommodate families with children.

Friends in North Austin removed downed trees from neighbors’ roofs, while closer to the city core, volunteers rushed to meet the immediate needs of people without homes — those most severely impacted by the freezing temperatures.

In Texas, the number of homeless veterans has dropped 65% between 2007 and 2020, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

Cities and nonprofits are using a variety of strategies to keep unhoused people warm. But some organizations warn they’re already at capacity as El Paso sends migrants across the state.

President Joe Biden's administration is making a new push to reduce homelessness.

This year marks the 43rd anniversary of the event which will take place on Nov. 24 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center on E. Market St.

This year marks the 43rd anniversary of the event which will take place on Nov. 24 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center on E. Market St.

A year after William Hawkins, 35, was shot in a downtown gas station parking lot near McCullough Avenue and U.S. 281, his family is frustrated by what they see as a lack of justice. The Oct. 14, 2021 shooting happened in broad daylight, and was captured on camera, but the shooter is not currently facing any charges.

San Antonio became the first community in the U.S. to surpass a nationwide effort to help end homelessness, city officials announced Monday.

Kameron Rhys's experience with homelessness at 22 taught him what gaps need to be filled when it comes to unsheltered youth. He's using his voice to make big plans come to fruition.

A haircut seems so simple, but for those experiencing homelessness, a physical makeover can make big goals become reality.

Police have had to eject hundreds of people from encampments. They still struggle to tell many of them where to go.

Started in 2021 following some smaller-scale pilot programs, the outreach team has 11 positions - one for each city council district and another for downtown. But in the little over a year-and-a-half since the first team members started, the city says it has had five resignations from the team.

Currently, there are close to 1,600 people staying at Haven for Hope, but some are sleeping in other non-dorm areas, including the chapel and classrooms.

Sky high housing costs are affecting us all, but they're hitting people experiencing homelessness especially hard.

Heat-related emergency calls have spiked amid historic heat. Cooling centers are available in major cities but often close in the late afternoon — during the hottest parts of the day.

Austin joins at least 28 U.S. cities, like Los Angeles, Chicago and Pittsburgh, that have tried out some form of “guaranteed income” — financial assistance targeted at needy households.

As San Antonio voters decide whether to approve the city’s biggest-ever bond program, they’re also considering a new way to fund affordable housing.

Canceled last year due to the pandemic, the annual Point in Time Count resumed Tuesday night, updating its 2020 census of people experiencing homelessness in San Antonio and Bexar County.

Casar has impressive progressive endorsements, from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders. But he also is tied to some of Austin’s most progressive policies, which have attracted powerful enemies and turned off some moderate Democrats.

Advocates say emergency communications have not improved much since last year, and people experiencing homelessness were less likely to seek help this year because of new state and local policies targeting them.

With temperatures set to drop starting overnight Wednesday, local groups working with people experiencing homelessness are preparing to help people living on the streets to weather the cold.

Roy Maas Youth Alternatives has been helping local children in crisis for years and its success is being recognized nationwide.

From a Hip Hop majorette dancer to a Bexar County Deputy luchador fighting at night, What Up South Texas exploded with fun in 2021.

Homeless woman eating food from the dumpster turns life around and earns a PhD.

There are several ways you and your family can give back this holiday season including volunteering at a local church that provides resources to get those experiencing homelessness back on their feet.

Bexar County Pct. 4 Constable Kathryn Brown hopes to better serve her community through a pantry she opened in her office.

Kim Jefferies was named Friday the new president and CEO of Haven for Hope, a nonprofit aimed at helping and transforming the homeless in San Antonio.

Friends and family of 35-year-old William Hawkins were comforted by song, poetry and prayer and by the words of tribute and remembrance by those who knew and loved him during a memorial service Thursday at Christian Assistance Ministry.

Months after Austin voters reinstated the city’s public camping ban, authorities are clearing many of the largest encampments. Their former residents are going “anywhere it’s safe and out of sight, out of mind,” one man said.

A San Antonio local veteran who has battled homelessness for several years is hoping his story inspires others to donate to the San Antonio Food Bank during Hunger Action Month.

After weeks of educating people about the ban that voters approved in May, police are allowed to start arresting violators this week as the city tries to find more housing.

Downtown businesses’ issues with people experiencing homelessness have spurred the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office to send deputies on patrol along the River Walk -- though not in great numbers nor with the ability to enforce all the local laws.

City staff presented the Public Safety Committee with an update of the police services review that began last year in response to numerous protests and calls to change policing in San Antonio.

Under Mario Bravo’s predecessor, Roberto Treviño, the District 1 field office near IH-10 and Vance Jackson, next to the Westfall Library, had been a safe haven for people experiencing homelessness to camp out. The situation has exasperated neighbors in the surrounding area, though, who hope the new councilman will get rid of the camp.

The City of San Antonio will lease a downtown hotel to use as a low-barrier shelter for people experiencing chronic homelessness.

The vote comes only weeks after Austin residents voted to reinstate a local public camping ban — two years after it was lifted.

A San Antonio man is turning his dark past of homelessness into an opportunity to motivate and inspire others in the homeless community.

SAN ANTONIO – Haven for Hope has been preparing for the upcoming cold weather. President for Haven for Hope, Molly Biglari said an indoor space will be used for sleeping. “We want to be able to offer even under these incredible services with COVID every service and that’s Haven’s services and our partner’s services,” she said. Haven for Hope will also offer cold weather clothing, warm jackets, and gloves. New clients should appear at Haven for Hope’s Intake (currently operating out of the Donation Center at 1 Haven for Hope Way) between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

SAN ANTONIO – The City of San Antonio dismantled another downtown homeless camp Friday at Main Street and I-35, just two days after they cleared out a camp at Brooklyn Avenue and I-37. “We’ll leave a camp in place if there’s no health or safety concern. Outreach crews from the city and its partners had been by the camp several times in the previous weeks, Steck said, offering assistance connecting with various services. Steck said out of everyone in the camp, three people accepted help with getting shelter services. RELATED: Homeless encampment will stay outside councilman’s office as city continues outreach efforts

SAN ANTONIO – City staff presented a new five-year strategic plan on Wednesday to deal with homelessness in San Antonio and Bexar County. They said they are also planning for a possible wave of newly homeless residents from COVID-19-related evictions. The strategic plan was developed by California-based nonprofit Homebase and includes recommendations such as increasing the investment in outreach teams and community-based housing and services. RECOMMENDATION #5: Develop detailed prioritization policies and targeted interventions to most effectively connect persons experiencing unsheltered homelessness to stable housing. RECOMMENDATION #6: Increase focus on consumer engagement and equity throughout the homelessness response system.

But counties say that with some federal relief funding expiring soon or its status uncertain, it's time to transition residents from expensive hotel rooms to cheaper, more stable housing. California is one of several states, including Washington, that turned to hotels to shelter homeless people as the virus took hold. The department has said it plans to move homeless people out of all 29 hotels by June. Russ Heimerich, spokesman with the state's Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, says counties have resources to continue housing homeless people in hotels. They say hotel residents have flourished with regular checkups and meals.

Tomanique Grant is one of several people who recently took to living in a tent, right alongside a busy downtown street. (KSAT 12 News)He bunks down each night in a fenced off parking lot near N. Main, alongside people in more than a half dozen other tents. (KSAT 12 News)They not only live together, but share chores and any food they can find. Grant says the closures related to the coronavirus left him and many other homeless people without any assistance. On October 15, San Antonio police moved in and shut down the encampment, not long after KSAT 12 News spoke with the city’s Department of Human Services about it.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – A recent study concluded that cash transfers provided to recently homeless individuals had a direct impact on financial stability and provided relief to the shelter system by empowering individuals. The organization calculated that, on average, the cash transfer recipients saved the shelter system $8,100 per person over the course of the year for a total savings of $405,000. Claire Williams, CEO of Foundations for Social Change, said the organization wanted to illustrate the viability of direct cash transfers to impact change. “Our research shows that cash transfers allowed people to access housing faster, improving stability and lowering the risk of trauma.”Jiaying Zhao, the study’s principal investigator and a UBC professor, said that the study was based on people who received direct cash transfers and individuals who did not receive outside support. “To receive a direct cash transfer, participants had to meet criteria that showed no misuse or abuse of substances,” Zhao said.

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio City Councilman Manny Peláez, with District 8, is holding a virtual town hall to discuss the city’s collective community response to homelessness. The virtual town hall is scheduled from 5:30- 7 p.m. Thursday on Facebook Live and can be viewed in the video livestream below. Homelessness Town Hall: A Collective Community Response Join us for a deep-dive into San Antonio's homelessness response network! For more information on the event, or to learn more about the city’s initiatives combatting homelessness, click here. RELATED: KSAT Community virtual Mental Health Town Hall

The City of Hollywood Park is trying to figure out how to clean-up an underground town of homeless people uncovered this week. The underground tunnel was uncovered when an officer saw a homeless person crawl in to a drainage tunnel. “And it really is like a small little town down there.”The tunnels are covered with trash, shopping carts, food, feces and furniture. Since the tunnel town was uncovered, officers have check on them at least twice a day to clear people out. The tunnel crosses 281 underground, which is TxDOT jurisdiction, and exits into San Antonio’s jurisdiction.

San Antonio – Some of the most vulnerable members of our community have no place to take shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic. Haven for Hope CEO Kenny Wilson says exceptions will be made for families with children, veterans and a few through selected targeting outreach. The City of San Antonio is also leading an effort to help the high number of people who are on the streets. In the next few days, the city plans to launch a hotline to help people reach social services. Both Haven for Hope and the city are looking at what funds are available federally and at the state level to help with homelessness.

During a time of crisis for the whole community, San Antonio church members are spending their time helping their homeless neighbors. Services inside San Antonio churches have stopped and have been transferred online, but the mission continues on the streets. “Normally, the church serves around 400 to 600 homeless a week through medical clinics, through hot meals, clothes, showers. “We work with the San Antonio Food Bank and whatever we get from them, we get creative,” he said. Rogers and Chadwell will be passing out hot food again Wednesday evening at different parks and bridges in the downtown area.

Juarez, a licensed clinical social worker, is the heart of a homeless outreach pilot program that could be set for expansion. As a family support coordinator for the city’s Department of Human Services, Juarez has been going out with SAPD SAFFE North officers since June to visit homeless encampments in District 10. Homeless Strategic Plan taking shapeWhen she gets a “yes,” Juarez follows up. She arranges transportation to meetings, helps get people into programs and suggests other services or help they might want to consider. She said the SAFFE officers help with the outreach, by visiting encampments and handing out Juarez’s card to homeless people.

SAN ANTONIO – Local education leaders and advocates gathered Friday to develop school-based action plans to address the growing child and youth homelessness crisis in San Antonio and nationwide.

Youth homelessness crisis addressed at Education Service Center eventPublished: February 20, 2020, 1:11 pmLocal education leaders and advocates gathered Friday to develop school-based action plans to address the growing child and youth homelessness crisis in San Antonio and nationwide.

San Antonio – A California-based nonprofit hired to create a plan to reduce homelessness in San Antonio has unveiled some preliminary recommendations. Homebase was contracted by the city in October to create a homeless strategic plan for the City of San Antonio. However, she also noted that San Antonio appears to be doing many things well already. “We’ve heard over and over again that San Antonio has a culture of compassion, empathy,” Lehmer said. Whatever Homebase addresses in its final plan, Lehmer said it will focus on realistic achievements for a five-to-10 year period.

SAN ANTONIO – Park benches, bus stops, streets and sidewalks are just a few of the places Dellview neighborhood residents say are being taken over by homeless vagrants. They brought undercover agents patrolling, regular patrol agents,” said Jeroen Zijlema, with the Dellview Citizen on Patrol group. He said the neighborhood is nothing like it used to be because of the growing homeless population. While some were directed to shelters, others living on the streets who were found to have active warrants were taken to jail. So what we’re trying to do together with the sheriff’s department is make this a reoccurring activity,” Zijlema said.

San Antonio – The city’s Homeless Strategic Plan is beginning to take shape as the contractor hired by the city nears a pivotal phase in the process. Homebase deputy director Patrick Wigmore says that has consisted of looking at data and conducting numerous interviews and meetings. WATCH: ‘In the Shadows’Wigmore said San Antonio has been getting good outcomes from its services, but there’s a growing demand for them. And this is a nationwide issue that communities are struggling with.”There is already $560,000 available in the city’s fiscal 2020 budget to be put toward the plan Homebase presents. “So in regards to carrying out this plan, I mean, we’re very serious about this, which is why we invested in it,” said Morjoriee White, the city’s homeless administrator.

Homeless Strategic Plan taking shapePublished: February 10, 2020, 6:44 pmThe city’s Homeless Strategic Plan is beginning to take shape, as the contractor hired by the city nears a pivotal phase in the process.

Britt’s sister, Nikki Clark, used to keep in contact with him through social media, but several months ago, he stopped responding. “I was looking for my brother and I found the article from KSAT,” Clark said. Homeless men plagued by mental, drug issues get help at transitional homeWe featured Britt in a story last April. He was rehabilitating at the Behavioral Health Transitions Program through Crosspoint, which helps homeless men plagued by drug addiction get back on their feet. On behalf of Britt, Clark proudly received her brother’s award for graduate of the year.

In DreamWeek event, homeless youth help people recognize biasPublished: January 16, 2020, 9:22 amDreamWeek 2020 features a spoken word event with the experiences of homeless LGBTQ youth in San Antonio. "When You See Us" will take place Thursday evening at Esperanza Peace and Justice Center.