100 Days In - A Letter From Kelly Young, President & CEO

Solving homelessness isn’t easy. It takes many partners working together — and one agency to coordinate them.

As I reflect on these last few months of getting settled into this position, I can say that I thought I knew what the Coalition for the Homeless (CFTH) did and how The Way Home worked. What I have learned is how much more this team does behind the scenes, all to do right by our partners, for those we serve, and the system we coordinate.

This is what I now know.

Solving homelessness — for individuals, families, and entire communities — isn’t easy. It takes many partners working together — and one agency to coordinate them.

That’s CFTH. CFTH is the backbone of Houston’s solutions to homelessness. CFTH, a nonprofit organization, uses the power of collective impact and its alliance between public entities and private organizations to be a collaborative hub to respond to homelessness.

CFTH is rooted in data. We focus on the system-level view, tracking trends, and identifying needs in Houston and surrounding areas. We’re pragmatic problem solvers. We champion housing with stability services as the solution to homelessness — because it works. We’re strategic. We focus on building relationships, leveraging available resources, and optimizing funding for maximum impact.

We’re collaborative. CFTH coordinates one of the nation’s most effective homeless response systems, The Way Home, with over 100 unbelievable and committed partners for maximum impact. The Way Home secures and grows funding, navigates the complexities of an ever-changing landscape, eradicates duplication across service providers, forecasts needs, and uncovers insights using data that we collect and maintain. As well as solving barriers to housing, we fill gaps, execute special projects to enhance homelessness response locally and nationally, build out best practices, drive the evolution of the system, and develop innovative programs to address homelessness.

This is how we spend our days – building and maintaining a system responsive to the work that needs to be done.

So, yes, the work is hard, but it’s not controversial. To live a self-determined life, people need a safe place to live from the moment they’re born to the moment they die. Our approach works. Housing people and providing stability services solves homelessness for individuals and families. A success rate of more than 85% proves this. Partnership works. Collaboration and a focus on housing have decreased homelessness in Houston and surrounding counties by more than 60% since 2011. It’s a pragmatic and effective approach that saves taxpayer dollars, benefits our entire community — and has made Houston/Harris County a model for the nation.

Or, in a nutshell, CFTH makes the homeless response system work.

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CFTH Leads 2026 PIT Count of People Experiencing Homelessness

By Catherine Villarreal • February 24, 2026

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.

Preparing for a Winter Storm

By Catherine Villarreal • January 21, 2026

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.

Press Release: CFTH’S 2025 Point-in-Time Count Results Highlight Shifts in Homelessness Across Houston

By Fryda Ochoa • September 9, 2025

While our system has helped thousands of people move from homelessness to housing, this year’s results highlight the need to broaden our approach.