A Home After Harvey
Communications Admin • June 15, 2018
By Sara Brown and Abbie Wright
Hurricane Harvey devastated the Texas Gulf Coast in August 2017, leaving thousands in disaster shelters and impacting those individuals who were already experiencing homelessness. Mr. Goode* had been living in a disaster recovery shelter for nearly a month before he began working with the Housing For Harvey program.
Housing For Harvey was created in only a few short weeks after the storm by the Coalition for the Homeless, local governments, federal agencies (such as the US Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD] and the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA]), and the American Red Cross. Partner agencies of The Way Home
helped implement the program over two months following Hurricane Harvey by housing vulnerable people out of disaster shelters and preventing homelessness for nearly 1,000 individuals and families.
Before Hurricane Harvey hit, Mr. Goode and his two young sons had been living with friends and family. Relationships had deteriorated after the storm which made going back to that living situation impossible. Mr. Goode had also been looking for work before the storm, but he had a chronic health condition that limited his options. Looking for a job while living in the disaster shelter was made even more difficult because he struggled to find childcare for his sons within the shelter.
Once he met with the Housing For Harvey team, housing navigators were able to get Mr. Goode enrolled in the program and quickly helped him submit an application for an apartment unit. When he and his sons came back to check on their application status the following day, the team was able to tell him the application was approved and that he and his family could probably move into the unit the same day.
His sons realized that the news was good news and started jumping up and down, screaming, “We have a home?! We have our own home?! I get to have my own bed?!” and there wasn’t a dry eye among any of the team members.
Mr. Goode had planned to keep looking for work once he moved into his new unit, so he could get back on his feet after Harvey – and he did. Before his 6 months of rental assistance was up, Mr. Goode had found employment and was able to renew his lease for 12 months and is continuing to pay his rent on his own!
* indicates name changed
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.
