More than 500 volunteers canvassed all of Houston, Harris County, and Fort Bend County (more than 2,600 square miles!) to help our community take count of its unsheltered homeless individuals. A sheltered count was also conducted that night through the Coalition-managed HMIS database. The results of the Count are used to gauge our progress toward ending homelessness as well as the effectiveness of our homeless service programs.

The annual Point-In Time Homeless Count is a requirement of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for each community that receives Continuum of Care (CoC) funding; however, federal funding is not directly tied to the number of homeless individuals – at least not in the obvious way.

“Fewer homeless individuals does not mean less funding from HUD,” said Marilyn Brown, President and CEO of the Coalition for the Homeless. “We have received consistent levels of funding over the past few years because HUD knows that the systems we are building in Houston need to be maintained, and because the federal government has confidence in the incredible performance of our homeless response system.

This confidence has been inspired largely due to the incredible collaboration and participation from all sectors of our community: the City of Houston and multiple departments within, Harris County, Fort Bend County, and more than 60 partner organizations. All of these entities are working together as a part of The Way Home Houston, the collaborative model to prevent and end homelessness in Houston, Harris County, and Fort Bend County.

The Way Home is committed to the federal goals of: ending chronic homelessness by 2015, ending veteran homelessness by 2015, ending family and youth homelessness by 2020, and setting a path to end all homelessness. We believe that the 2015 Homeless Count results (when they are ready in late Spring) will show a continued decrease in homelessness in our community – particularly in chronic and veteran homelessness.

Again, the Count couldn’t have happened without the help of many organizations, students, homeless service agency staff, and other individuals throughout our region. We appreciate the amazing level of participation in this year’s count and the will of our community to end homelessness!

Media Highlights:

“Video: Homeless Count Amps Up in 2015″, Hilary Whittier, FOX 26 News

“Video: Counting Houston’s Homeless," Chaz Miller, PBS NewsHour

“Hundreds of Volunteers Turn Out For Homeless Count Across Greater Houston,” Interview with Coalition for the Homeless staff members, Houston Matters, January 30, 2015

“In this annual count, the search is for the homeless,” by St. John Barned-Smith, Houston Chronicle, January 30, 2015

“How Many Homeless People Does Houston Have?” ABC 13 News, January 29, 2015