City of Houston, SEARCH and Houston Coalition partner to fight homelessness through a 'community-wide effort known as The Way Home'

SEARCH, the Houston Coalition and the City of Houston are fighting homelessness with a new program known as the Community COVID Housing Program. 

The program's goal is to get Houston's homeless permanently off the streets. More than $26 million in emergency funds has been allocated to help the city's homeless population, which were deemed the most vulnerable to the pandemic. 

Because of Housing First, and amid fears that the coronavirus has led to more homelessness in the city, Houston is focusing much of its aid on permanent housing and homeless prevention in hopes to have long-term solutions.

"The City of Houston is working toward reducing and providing permanent housing for the homeless through the ambitious community-wide effort known as The Way Home," Thao Costis, president and CEO of Search Homeless Services, told Houston Daily. "Through this unprecedented collaboration, homeless service providers, public agencies and philanthropic leaders have come together with the common goal of achieving a Houston without homelessness."

Costis attributed Houston's success in fighting homelessness to several factors.

"Houston’s system-wide approach through The Way Home and adoption of the Housing First model have significantly contributed to our success in ending homelessness," Costis said. "Every agency’s role is instrumental in the lives of the individuals and families we serve, as well as the city as a whole, and our action plan for the future is both community- and client-centric."

There are events dedicated to fundraising for these issues.

"Each year, SEARCH holds two major fundraising events – our annual luncheon in the spring and our Picnic with a Purpose (previously known as Picnic in the Park) each fall," Costis said. 

Using part of the unprecedented amount of federal homeless aid, Houston and surrounding Harris County will launch a two-year housing initiative called Community COVID Housing Program. The $65 million program will offer rental and other assistance to prevent homelessness; identify and house those experiencing homelessness because of the pandemic and create more long-term housing options with supportive services available. The new program expects to house nearly 5,000 people by 2022, with the goal of eliminating chronic homelessness in Houston and Harris County.

Introduced in the 1990s, the idea of Housing First was revolutionary because it didn’t require people living on the streets to fix their problems before getting permanent housing. This was supported by years of research, which found that people are better able to address their individual problems when basic needs — such as food and a roof overhead — are met. In 2011, there were more than 8,400 people without stable housing in the Houston area, making the city have one of the highest homeless populations in the U.S., but by the beginning of 2020 that number had decreased by about 55% to around 3,800, according to the latest government homeless census.

Collaboration between representatives from local government, nonprofits and other constituencies has been crucial to the Houston area’s success, experts say. They formed a homeless governing structure to try to ensure funding was invested according to Housing First principles.