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.

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.

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.

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.