Reflecting on the Progress & Challenges of 2020

Aubry Vonck • Jan 27, 2021

A Letter from Coalition President/CEO Mike Nichols

As we begin 2021, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the year behind us.

Going into 2020, none among us could have anticipated that we would face a global pandemic, the human and economic damage of which has yet to be fully realized and will likely shape our work for years to come. We also faced a cultural reckoning regarding deeply entrenched racist policies in our country highlighted by the murder of George Floyd.

In the wake of these events, we did not simply wring our hands. We rolled up our sleeves. We asked ourselves, “How can we best serve those most vulnerable among us: people experiencing homelessness? How can we make sure their needs are accounted for as our community’s leaders plan a response to the challenges that face us? How do we become an anti-racist homeless response system?”

That’s why I’m so proud of the work of The Way Home Continuum of Care, and our greater Houston community at large.

From nonprofit organizations to government partners to philanthropy and beyond, we have worked together to accomplish a lot for our most vulnerable neighbors:

With the City of Houston and Healthcare for the Homeless-Houston: A dedicated COVID testing process for people experiencing homelessness;
With the City of Houston and Salvation Army of Greater Houston: An auxiliary shelter, to help de-densify emergency shelters to slow the spread of COVID;
With the City of Houston and Harris County: A quarantine and isolation facility for people experiencing homelessness to recover from COVID, or to await the results of a COVID test
With The Harris Center, the City of Houston, and Harris County: a new respite, re-entry and rehabilitation center where patients with acute mental health conditions can stabilize before transitioning to permanent housing;
With the help of Harris County: A unanimously approved Homeless Task force report, which included a recommendation that Harris County allocate general funds to support homelessness programs for the first time in our region;
With many current partners of The Way Home, new service organizations, the City of Houston, Harris County, and private philanthropy: The $65 million Community COVID Housing Program (CCHP), which will help 5,000 people experiencing homelessness over the next two years.

And on top of all that, we:

Housed:

886 people in Permanent Supportive Housing
895 people in Rapid Re-Housing

Were also able to continue to serve:

Almost 6,000 people who had previously been placed in PSH
Almost 2,000 people who had previously been placed in RRH

As we look ahead to 2021, the primary challenge before us is to continue our region’s great work to secure and move people into sustainable permanent housing programs — work that is accelerated through CCHP.

We also look forward to:

Officially launching a Diversion program in the Houston/Harris County area for the first time;
Continuing to expand access to quality affordable housing;
Advocating for more funding and more equitable treatment for people experiencing homelessness;
Advocating for change in Medicaid to give broader services to people experiencing homelessness; and
Addressing racial equity across our CoC.

Just as hope for an end to the pandemic is right around the corner with the roll-out of a vaccine, hope for an end to chronic homelessness in our region is right around the corner, too. With the influx of funds made available for COVID response, we have chosen to prioritize permanent housing, rather than temporary solutions like hotels, for our most vulnerable, which sets us on a path to effectively end chronic homelessness. That’s a decision we can all be proud of.

The Coalition for the Homeless is honored to serve as the lead agency for The Way Home. I look forward to continuing our work together with all of our partners in the Continuum of Care across Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery counties; our government funders; our public and non-profit service providers; our philanthropic funders; our adjacent system partners; and our volunteers to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring.

Mike Nichols

President & CEO

Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County

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