Houston Surpasses Milestone In Fight Against Homelessness

HOUSTON, TX — Mayor Sylvester Turner, staff and The Way Home announced on Wednesday that the goal to house 500 chronically homeless individuals in six months in the Houston area has been surpassed.

Turner said that between March and August 2017, that homeless service agencies and hundreds of city staff members have helped place 548 chronically homeless individuals into permanent supportive housing programs.

In March 2017, Turner announced a comprehensive and holistic approach to reducing homelessness, challenging the homeless response community to intensify efforts to permanently house the most vulnerable chronically homeless individuals on Houston’s streets.

“Any conversation around reducing homelessness must start and end with housing, for it is the permanent solution to homelessness,” Turner said. “Houston continues to lead the nation in reducing homelessness, and while we recognize a great accomplishment today, we also recognize that there is still more to be done.”

At the center of this plan was The Way Home, the collaborative model comprised of more than 100 private nonprofits and public organizations that has reduced overall homelessness by 60 percent, and provided voluntary supportive services to help those individuals maintain their housing.

The unprecedented collaboration of The Way Home partners helped paved the way for surpassing the goal, even in the face of major setbacks such as historic flooding and a federal freeze on housing vouchers.

“The Way Home partners are an incredible team that has adopted a ‘YES’ culture, so I am thrilled – but not surprised – that we exceeded Mayor Turner’s goal of housing 500 chronically homeless individuals,” said Marilyn Brown, President/CEO of the Coalition for the Homeless. “Hundreds of partner agency staff members spent countless hours on this project and their hard work deserves to be recognized. We also could not have done this without the partnership of Mayor Turner and the City of Houston; we are so thankful for their continued support of proven and permanent solutions to end homelessness.”

Image: Mayor Sylvester Turner with Jose Quintero, a client of The Way Home talk about homelessness at City Hall (Courtesy City of Houston)

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