Change of Leadership Announcement
Communications Admin • January 4, 2012
HOUSTON (Jan. 4, 2012) – The Board of Directors of the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County announces a leadership change. Marilyn L. Brown has joined the Coalition as President and Chief Executive Officer. Ms. Brown is an attorney with over 30 years in nonprofit leadership.
Nancy Frees Fountain, Chairman of the Board stated, “The Coalition’s Board of Directors, staff and alliance of homeless service providers thank Ms. Connie S. Boyd for the strides made over the past year and wish her the best in her future endeavors. We are pleased that Ms. Brown has assumed the helm and will continue the vital work of the Coalition.” Ms. Brown will utilize her expertise in organizational leadership, strategic planning and communications to strengthen and expand the Coalition’s efforts to prevent and end homelessness. “I am excited to join in the work of the Coalition and further its efforts to create a homeless service system that will ultimately reduce new homelessness, the length of homeless episodes, and returns to homelessness throughout the Houston/Harris County region,” said Ms. Brown, President and CEO. “We will continue moving forward with the homeless system improvements underway to comply with changing federal legislation and to secure resources for homeless programs in our community.”
In 2011, the Coalition experienced a number of successes that will gain momentum in 2012 and make a
difference in the lives of homeless men, women and children. These successes include:
- Collaborating with the Department of Housing and Urban Development and their technical assistance providers to assess community needs across the Continuum of Care and leading the application process that will create 100 new permanent supportive housing units and 221 new beds for 124 adults and 97 children;
- Cultivating a housing nonprofit organization to sponsor 70 permanent supporting housing units that otherwise would have been lost to the community;
- Administering Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) and decreasing duplication by 90%;
- Convening community stakeholders to self-select four major community priorities including: coordinated intake; provider performance measurement; targeted prevention; rapid re-housing expansion and leading subsequent planning and implementation groups;
- Developing a database of permanent supportive housing providers detailing sites and services;
- Cultivating relationships with housing authorities and providers to facilitate the increase of housing vouchers designated for homeless clients.
First priority for the new year will be leading the January 2012 Homeless Count. Performed on three consecutive Tuesdays beginning January 17, Coalition for the Homeless utilizes teams of volunteers to scour Harris and Fort Bend Counties in an effort to obtain an accurate record of the number of homeless in our community. These numbers aid the Coalition, City and County to receive federal funds. Last year’s count educated the community on the facts that one in every 300 individuals in Harris and Fort Bend Counties is homeless and that on any given night, 8,500 homeless men, women and children are living on the streets.
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.
