I've lived in Austin since '05, came here after Katrina. Austin has definitely changed throughout the years. In '05 you rarely saw homeless folks. You could go down to the drag and see cats who might have been traveling through, which I think was more common in the past. The strange thing is that I always had the feeling that the cats we'd see down on the drag were locals that had somehow just turned what a hobo/tramp looked like after quite a bit of traveling into a fashion statement. The other locals would call them drag rats. There were quite a few bike punks that I befriended in town around that time. A couple of them had hopped trains for a while and would always call bullshit on these drag rats when they would see them spanging. We even saw a few of them going back to what we would later learn were their parents fancy homes near the drag.
Anyway like someone here had already mentioned around 2010 is when what we refer to as "old Austin" kind of faded away in my mind forever. We often referred to Austin as the "Velvet Rut" also. It didn't take much to get by and live comfortably here, and while it is becoming more and more expensive/yuppified. It is still relatively easy to get by out here.
I think the biggest challenge with squatting here is that literally everything is for sale. Even if you do find something abandoned, chances are they just haven't put the for sale sign out yet.
I'll keep an eye out for potential spots, if I see anything that looks like it might be feasible I'll get back to the boards here with the info.
