It's because the city council a while back decriminalized homeless camping, so it's become much more obvious and prevalent in high traffic areas. I can see this for myself if I walk a handful of blocks from where I live and see the new tent city which wasn't there a year ago. They're likely going to reverse this rule since it's not really fixing problem.

https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2021/01/25/austin-texas...

https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2021/01/21/homelessness...