Advocates for the homeless push city to act on evictions

Rebecca Flores tells the story this way:

She and Molly Wright, a fellow advocate for the homeless, were handing out flyers outside San Fernando Cathedral on one of the most important days for Mexican American Catholics, the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Sunday also marked the start of a fast for both women. Their goal is to push city officials on policies to help the homeless, including an end to evictions and demolitions on the near West Side and East Side, where gentrification is squeezing people out of affordable housing, such as it is.

Like other homeless advocates, Flores and Wright point to a November study, “Ousted: The City of San Antonio’s Displacement of Residents through Code Enforcement Actions.”

Conducted by the University of Texas at Austin, the report reviewed the city’s “displacement of residents from their homes for code violations, with a focus on single-family residences. From 2015-2020, the City issued close to 1,000 orders to vacate and orders to demolish singlefamily homes, including at least 626 orders for occupied homes.”

The report said these “aggressive” actions are focused on low-income communities of color in the urban core, where the city is “incentivizing” redevelopment.

The study compared San Antonio to other Texas cities.

While San Antonio handed out 626 orders in a five-year span, Houston, Dallas, Austin and Fort Worth issued “no more than 16 orders” combined in the same period.

That’s enough to call for protests and firings. Yet Flores and Wright weren’t making any such noise outside the cathedral on Sunday.

But when Flores moved to the Plaza de la Cruz, an outdoor space between the cathedral and a restaurant, that’s when the problem started. It’s property the cathedral considers private.

For background, Flores is the retired director of the United Farm Workers in Texas and spent her career advocating for the rights of the nation’s most under-appreciated laborers.

Wright has become one of the city’s leading voices against homelessness.

I’ll say upfront I don’t know what went on between Flores and the cathedral’s new rector, Father Carlos Velázquez.

But he asked Flores to leave Plaza de la Cruz, and she refused. Both activists called his demeanor abrasive and shocking. Velázquez called the police.

Flores says she was acting as a practicing Catholic upset by the city’s tax breaks to developers who aren’t producing affordable housing units that could ease the homeless problem.

Flores and Wright argue the city ought to provide trash bins and other services to homeless camps, not destroy them.

Wright says the city should create a safe parking lot program, where those living in their cars can safely park and sleep at night.

After Velázquez called police to the scene, Flores moved to the sidewalk on Flores Street near the statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

I wasn’t able to speak with the rector Monday, but archdiocese spokesman Jordan Mcmorrough spoke on his behalf.

Mcmorrough cited a longstanding cathedral policy against leafleting on cathedral grounds. He said the women didn’t have permission to conduct activities there, though it’s allowed in Main Plaza in front of the cathedral.

“I can’t respond to the tone of the conversation or the escalation. I wasn’t there,” he added.

The content of the flyers weren’t at issue. “Father Carlos said it probably could have been put in the (church) bulletin,” Mcmorrough said.

A documentary filmmaker on site traded words with Velázquez, too. He allegedly threatened to take her camera, but didn’t.

Wright will continue fasting from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. til Dec. 24. She’ll be outside City Hall in hopes of speaking with the mayor, City Council members and city officials about the city’s homelessness problem.

The flyer asks parishioners to pray for the end to homelessness and hunger. It asked them to search within, that God created them “for something much more than happiness — than being comfortable.”

It asks them to do more.

It cited increases in homelessness and its root causes, including poverty, the lack of affordable housing and healthcare, racial inequality and domestic violence.

It cited House Bill 1925, which bans encampments in public spaces.

Then it quoted the gospel of Matthew to explain the need for compassion. “For I was hungry and you gave me food.”

“And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ ”