Pathways to Independence
Connecting individuals and families to the right support at the right time.
Why This Matters
Homelessness doesn't affect only the people experiencing it. It affects the community we all experience.
We all want a Houston where neighborhoods are strong, businesses thrive, public spaces feel welcoming, families are healthy, and people have the opportunity to work, contribute and build a future.
Homelessness touches all of it.
It affects the person looking for a safe place to sleep. The family struggling to regain stability. The business owner concerned about the neighborhood outside their door. The first responder answering recurring calls. The hospital treating needs that could have been addressed differently. And the community deciding how limited public resources can have the greatest impact.
The next chapter requires more pathways forward.
Pathways to Independence builds on Houston's progress by helping people connect to the support that fits their needs and circumstances.
The Five Community Benefits
When people find stability, the impact reaches far beyond the individual.
Stability gives people a foundation to address health needs, reconnect with family, pursue employment and rebuild their lives.
Resolving homelessness more quickly helps create welcoming places where residents, businesses and communities can thrive.
Removing barriers to employment and income gives more people the opportunity to contribute while strengthening our regional workforce.
Connecting people to the right intervention sooner can reduce repeated reliance on emergency systems and make better use of public and private resources.
Our region has shown what is possible when government, philanthropy, business, and nonprofits work together. Pathways to Independence builds on that strength for the challenges ahead.
This is bigger than homelessness.
It's about people. It's about possibility. And it's about the community we choose to build together.
Why Pathways
Houston proved what's possible. Now, our system must evolve again.
Through The Way Home, Houston built one of the nation's most effective coordinated homeless response systems. Even as homelessness has risen across the country and economic pressures have made housing stability harder to maintain, our region has held homelessness relatively steady.
That's meaningful progress. But our goal isn't simply to hold the line.
We envision a system where someone facing homelessness has a path toward resolution within 90 days.
The data showed us where we can make a greater impact.
Approximately 5,700 people experiencing homelessness seek assistance in our region each year. Our data shows that 60% could resolve their homelessness faster with flexible support.
~60%
~40%
May regain stability sooner with faster, more flexible support
Need traditional housing interventions or more intensive, multidisciplinary care
The opportunity became clear: expand the ways people can get help and better match the response to what each person needs.
One coordinated system. More ways in. More ways forward.
Pathways to Independence is the next evolution of Houston's homeless response — built on what we've learned, driven by data, and designed to help more people resolve homelessness faster.
How It Works
Different needs require different solutions.
Sometimes the difference between homelessness and stability isn't a long-term program. It may be a repaired car that allows someone to keep working, help getting home to family, access to income, or assistance navigating a difficult moment.
For someone else, the path forward may require behavioral healthcare or intensive support coordinated across multiple systems to successfully maintain their future housing.
Pathways to Independence is designed to meet those different needs by expanding The Way Home's response in five key areas.
See Pathways in action
Meet five fictional Houstonians and see how different types of support could help them move toward stability.
Built for Accountability
Strong leadership. Clear oversight. Shared responsibility.
Pathways to Independence brings leaders from across sectors together to guide implementation, measure progress, and ensure investments support the goals of the initiative.
Executive Leadership Committee
Sets strategic direction and keeps Pathways to Independence focused on its long-term goals.
Technical Operations Committee
Brings subject-matter and implementation expertise together to review progress, solve challenges and improve strategies as we learn.
Advisory Fund Committee
Provides oversight of philanthropic investments and helps ensure resources advance Pathways to Independence priorities.
Meet the leaders guiding the work
Ric Campo
Chairman and CEO
Camden Property Trust
Thao Costis
Executive Director
Harris County Housing & Community Development
Ryan Dolibois
Executive Director
Sarofim Foundation
Ed Gonzalez
Sheriff of Harris County
Harris County Sheriff's Office
Steve Kean
President and CEO
Greater Houston Partnership
Kris Larson
President and CEO
Downtown Houston+
Keena Pace
President and CEO
The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD
Mike Nichols
Director
City of Houston Housing and Community Development Department
Larry Satterwhite
Director
Mayor's Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security
Kelly Young
President and CEO
Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County (CFTH)
The Goals
The goal isn't to manage homelessness better. It's to help more people resolve it.
Pathways to Independence is working toward three long-term goals:
End Street Homelessness
Build the capacity and solutions needed to end unsheltered homelessness across our region.
Resolve Homelessness Faster
Build a system where everyone who enters homelessness has a path toward resolution within 90 days.
Build What Lasts
Prove what works, measure the results and secure sustainable public funding for the solutions that deliver impact beyond the three-year proof-of-concept phase.
$31 million raised. One final gap to close.
Houston's philanthropic community has already made a major investment in this vision. Completing the proof-of-concept campaign will allow us to put these strategies into action, measure what works, and build the case for long-term sustainability.
But Houston has never solved its biggest challenges through the work of one organization or one sector.
Pathways to Independence is no different.
We all have a role in building a Houston where homelessness is rare, brief, and resolvable, and where more people have a path forward.
Philanthropy.
Government.
Business.
Nonprofits.
Community Leaders.
Residents.
