Case managers work with clients who have been permanently housed to help them acclimate to their new life, including connecting them to resources like income or food. Thanks to the CCHP, it also means connections to mental health supports. 

Some clients have acute mental health crises or pre-existing disabilities that can make it challenging to maintain housing. The CCHP has provided resources for a new team administered through our local mental health authority, The Harris Center. These teams provide intensive, hands-on behavioral and mental health supports to the clients we serve who may be experiencing a mental health crisis. 

If the client is willing to participate, a case manager can submit a referral to The Harris Center. The Harris Center can then conduct a consultation and determine what mental health social services, if any, are most appropriate for the client. 

These services are designed to increase residential stability, help people remain off the streets, and help them maintain their connections to care. They are open to all housing programs and are only contingent on whether the client wants to participate. 

Enhanced Street Outreach are additional outreach teams we added to make sure we have full coverage throughout our Continuum of Care. Thanks to the CCHP, we have been able to expand homeless outreach to those living unsheltered outside of the inner-city core and into unincorporated Harris County. This team, employed by the Coalition, moves outside the walls of the agency to engage with people experiencing homelessness who may be disconnected from mainstream services and supports. Outreach teams provide on-the-spot assistance, assessments, and referral to housing.

The Coalition’s outreach team has also been able to tackle encampments thanks to additional CCHP resources. The Coalition for the Homeless, City of Houston, Harris County, and other partners have worked together to decommission five encampments so far in 2021. All individuals residing at these encampments have been offered a housing option, and the most of them have now been housed in one of our permanent housing programs. 

Thanks to the success we have seen in these five decommissions, the Coalition is developing Encampment Response Practice Standards. This project will document effective encampment decommissioning results as a national best practice and define strategy for ongoing encampment work.