The Community COVID Housing Program (CCHP) is our region’s $65-million plan to serve 5,000 people experiencing homelessness over the next two years to limit the spread of COVID-19. This program has given the Coalition the additional resources to develop and implement a coordinated plan to address unsheltered homelessness by helping people living encampments move into permanent housing.

Working with several partners of The Way Home and local law enforcement, the Coalition’s outreach and project management teams have been able to draw on years of knowledge regarding what does — and doesn’t — work to house people living in encampments.

Over the past year, the Coalition and its partners have been able to decommission six different encampments throughout the City of Houston and Harris County. Contrary to a common misconception, people in encampments will, more often than not, accept permanent housing when it is offered to them. The proof: over 200 people were living in these encampments, and the majority of them are now residing in permanent housing! 

The Coalition’s staff has played a key leadership role on this encampment initiative. Decommissioning encampments is a community response that uses a system strategy of coordination across multiple partners and jurisdictions. The Coalition has convened public and elected officials and secured access to system resources to ensure that the tools are available to quickly move people out of encampments and into permanent housing. 

This work caught the attention of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which commissioned a consultant to work with the Coalition’s staff to study our process for addressing encampments and create a “how-to” guide for other cities to follow our example. We are proud to be leading this innovative work that has propelled Houston back into the national spotlight on creative and effective ways to address homelessness. Click here to read the guide.