2018 Community Conversation Recap
Communications Admin • December 27, 2018
The Coalition for the Homeless, as lead agency to The Way Home, facilitated a Community Conversation on Tuesday, November 27. The goal of the Community Conversation was to gather input from community stakeholders to create a new strategic vision for the year 2020 and beyond!
With over 200 people in attendance, members of the community spent a full day brainstorming topic areas for The Way Home to tackle in the future. Attendees had the opportunity to gather in small groups throughout the day to discuss topics they felt were most important and those they wanted to learn more about. Those who attended included community members, CEO’s, national Leaders from the National Alliance to End Homelessness
(NAEH) and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness
(USICH) were in attendance, as well as partner agency CEOs, individuals formerly or currently experiencing homelessness, faith leaders, funding partners, and other community members.
“I think it went really well,” said Michael Fraley, Coalition Project Manager. “We had a lot of different subject areas that people discussed – 38 to be exact! Once those topics areas are narrowed down, The Way Home Continuum of Care Steering Committee will take a look at everything, and work thoroughly to develop a plan by 2020.”
A survey was also sent out after the Community Conversation to see which of the 38 topics that were discussed were the most important for the future. The Steering Committee will also take these recommendations into consideration during the planning process.
Michael says that workgroups will be formed soon to address some of these topics and areas of work, and that community members will have the opportunity to join those workgroups and be a part of the planning process. “We really want this new plan to be community focused,” said Michael. “This is not meant to be the Coalition’s plan – it’s the community’s plan.”
Eva Thibaudeau, Vice President of Programs for the Coalition, says being able to see partners come together to identify areas of need and create roadmaps forward on some of the toughest issues facing the homeless response system was really inspiring. “As I heard from our national leaders (USICH and NAEH) and local thought leaders and witnessed the synergy in the room, it made me feel as though everything is possible,” said Eva. “Coming out of this event, I feel even more confident that we have the right players at the table, so our community can continue to tackle the social problem of homelessness with forward-thinking, person-centered, evidence-based responses.”
All updates regarding the planning process will be available in CoC Steering Committee meeting minutes, which you can find here.
Houston, Texas (February 24, 2026) – This week, the nonprofit Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County (CFTH) is leading the annual Point-in-Time Homeless Count & Survey (“PIT Count”) to determine the number of people experiencing homelessness across Houston and throughout Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery counties. “We may see a slight uptick in the number this year, but we have a plan,” said Kelly Young, President & CEO of CFTH. “With the support of the City of Houston, Harris County, and private funders, we have been piloting new interventions to shorten the length of time people in our region experience homelessness. With adequate funding, we look forward to expanding those interventions to help people regain lives of self-determination.” CFTH coordinates the Houston region’s public-private homeless response system, The Way Home . Through this collaboration, The Way Home partners have successfully housed over 36,000 people since 2012. CFTH will release the results of Houston’s 2026 PIT Count in the summer, following independent verification by an epidemiologist. These findings will provide insight into how factors such as increases in the cost of living and the end of federal pandemic relief funding have impacted homelessness in our region. More information about the 2026 Point-in-Time Homeless Count & Survey The PIT Count offers a snapshot of how many people are experiencing homelessness in our region on a single night. This year, the “night of record” is Monday, Feb. 23. CFTH determines the number of people staying in shelters on that night by pulling records electronically from the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) . The unsheltered count will be conducted on the following days, from Tuesday, Feb. 24 to Thursday, Feb. 26. More than 400 volunteers and staff of local nonprofit service provider partners will canvass the three-county region to survey people living unsheltered, using an app on their mobile devices. Results from the 2026 PIT Count will help gauge the progress of The Way Home’s ongoing collaborative efforts. It will also help CFTH and partner homeless outreach teams understand geographic shifts and target their outreach throughout the year. The PIT Count illuminates specific programmatic gaps and provides additional information needed to allocate resources most efficiently. The PIT Count is a requirement of the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) for the annual Continuum of Care (CoC) funding process. HUD furnishes the majority of funding for programs that provide housing and supportive services to people experiencing homelessness in the region. In 2024, HUD granted more than $71 million to the Houston area.
As lead agency to The Way Home Continuum of Care (CoC), CFTH is working with local governmental entities to advocate on behalf of people experiencing homelessness to ensure their needs are being considered as winter weather affects our region. We will make frequent updates as we receive information. Please check back often for the latest information. Last updated 02/01/2026 at 12:00 p.m.
While our system has helped thousands of people move from homelessness to housing, this year’s results highlight the need to broaden our approach.
