Staff Perspectives: Conferences Do More Than Teach – They Inspire
Communications Admin • March 13, 2018
By Sara Brown
While at the conference, I began to think about my time at the Coalition and the fact that I’ve been able to be an observer and participant in the amazing work to solve homelessness in the Houston area. Through The Way Home, the collaborative effort to prevent and end homelessness in Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery Counties, our community has figured out that permanent housing programs (like Permanent Supportive Housing and Rapid Re-housing) are the programmatic solutions to homelessness; however, we wouldn’t have been able to implement those programs without a very special something else.
I’d like to suggest that, if permanent housing programs are the key to solving homelessness, then collaboration is the machine that cuts the key.
This may seem like a clunky analogy, but bear with me.
In 2011, homeless service providers in Houston were working in a pretty isolated manner and not really coordinating their services with one another. Because of this, local organizations were helping people manage their homelessness day-to-day, but they weren’t helping them end their homelessness. This de-centralization also made it really confusing for homeless people and harder for them to get help. Often, they were referred from one agency to another until they finally found the one that could actually help them with their specific needs.
The result of this disconnection of services was that by 2012, we had the 6th largest homeless population in the nation, and you could expect to find more than 7,100 homeless people on a given night in our community – most of them living on the streets.
In 2012, homeless service partners, local governments, and other stakeholders came together through The Way Home
to share information, work collaboratively, and transform the way we serve homeless individuals and families in our region. The partnerships that we have made (and continue to make) have spurred innovation, reduced red tape, and allowed our community to serve an increasingly larger number of homeless households in a very efficient and effective way.
This has led to some pretty incredible successes! Since 2011, there has been a 60% decrease in homelessness. Partners of The Way Home have housed more than 11,000 people since 2012, and when we check in with those people at the two-year mark, about 90% of them are still housed.
Absolutely none of this would have been possible if we hadn’t come together to break down our organizational walls and change the way we work – both as individual organizations and as a system.
I think it’s only natural that my time at the NAEH conference made me think about the progress we’ve seen in Houston. But there’s always a flip side. The conference also reminded me that we still have some things to figure out: panel discussions about encampments, presentations on the role that mental healthcare plays in solving homelessness, and workshops on ending homelessness for youth and young adults also reminded me that we still have work to do here at home.
But back to the positive! There’s the networking. The brainstorming with new friends from all over the United States – and even the world! The emailing and phone calling that happens in the weeks and months after the conference. It’s all so invigorating.
Knowing that, literally, thousands of people across the country are working tirelessly, day after day, just like all of us here in Houston, gives me hope and propels the partners of The Way Home toward our goal that no one has to be without permanent housing for more than 30 days.
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.
