How the AI Boom Sparked a Housing Crisis in One Texas City

One chilly day in November 2025, community worker Mike Prado drove through Abilene, Tex., handing out blankets, socks, and jackets to unhoused individuals across the city. People sat on curbs, alleyway after alleyway, their meager belongings soaked by the previous night's hard rain. Prado has worked in this community for a decade, and was once homeless in Abilene himself. Prado has witnessed difficult years--but the current situation was the worst he'd ever seen, he told TIME. One man with a walker approached Prado outside of the Hope Haven offices--an Abilene nonprofit where Prado works, which operates a shelter and helps people with vouchers find housing--and accepted a jacket from him.