One Year Later – The New York Times Article

Fryda Ochoa • Jun 14, 2023

A year later, we reflect on the increase in awareness about what works to address homelessness.

On June 14, 2022, The New York Times published a major story online about Houston’s approach to homelessness: “How Houston Moved 25,000 People From the Streets Into Homes of Their Own.” Later that month, the article was featured in a special print section and on the Times’ podcast The Daily.

The publication of this article was the culmination of about a year of conversations between us, our government and nonprofit partners in The Way Home, and the author, Michael Kimmelman — on top of a decade of work on the part of our entire homeless response system.

We hoped that the article would highlight the collective impact work of our system and demonstrate how Housing First is both an effective and compassionate response to homelessness.

A year on, we believe that it has, and we are glad we have been able to serve as a source of knowledge for other communities:

More than 40 different local governments in the U.S. have reached out or visited Houston to learn about our approach, including Los Angles, Denver, Pittsburgh, Albuquerque, and Chicago.
Coalition staff have visited and engaged with more than 15 different cities to speak on panels, conferences or webinars about Houston’s Housing First approach in combatting homelessness including Washington D.C ., Phoenix and Princeton.
Over 35 different local, regional, national, and international media outlets — and a documentary crew — have reached out to learn more, including Scripps National Media, WYNC Studios and a radio news program in New Zealand.

Michael (the author of the article) also participated as our keynote speaker at State of Homelessness 2023 where he mentioned what prompted his interest in Houston: "I felt all the negative doomsday scrolling stories about homelessness fed into a cycle of pessimism and despair that made people both more hostile to the unhoused and more complacent."

In the same address, Michael reflected on the impact his article has made: "The public got back a hunger to know more about what works, what is possible, and not just be told that everything is going haywire. Because in the end I believe a majority of us seek common ground and common cause, if we are just given some reason to hope. Houston gives people hope that homelessness is a problem we can tackle together.”

Since the publication of this article, we and our partners of The Way Home have also accomplished several other milestones within the system:

More than 28,000 people have been placed in permanent housing (Permanent Supportive Housing or Rapid Re-Housing) through The Way Home since 2012.
This year, the Point-in-Time Homeless Count found 1,242 people living unsheltered, a decrease of 17% since 2022.
As of May 2023, more than 13,432 people experiencing homelessness have been housed or diverted from homelessness through the Community COVID Housing Program (CCHP).
More than 50 people who have stayed at the Navigation Center since it opened in January have already been successfully housed.
Overall, our region has seen a 61% reduction in homelessness since 2011.

The New York Times reestablished Houston’s place as a national model and expanded our reputation globally for effectively applying Housing First to address homelessness.

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