The Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County hosted the State of Homelessness on April 28, 2022. The half-day conference brought together partners of The Way Home, community members, and stakeholders to learn from local and national experts in the homeless response system. Topics ranged from healthcare and advocacy to pivotal programs pertaining to homelessness across the Houston region.

Over one hundred people attended this year’s conference in person, and an additional one hundred joined in virtually. In-person attendees arrived at the JW Marriott Downtown bright and early and were greeted with plenty of familiar faces. Among them, several elected officials including Houston Councilwoman Tiffany Thomas, District F; Council Member Amy Peck, District A; Council Member Robert Gallegos, District I; and Council Member Sallie Alcorn, At-Large Position 5.

After breakfast, Ashlie Young, manager of landlord engagement at the Coalition and this year’s Master of Ceremonies, shared a beautiful and thought-provoking poem, leaving us ready for a day of community collaboration. (Watch Ashlie perform the poem.)

Coalition board chair Lance Gilliam and board member Troi Taylor took to the stage for a welcome address and discussed this year's theme. "Collaboration is the theme of the day and the underlying value in our success," Gilliam said. "By working together we've managed to become one of the most effective homeless response systems in the country, making the impossible possible." (Watch the welcome address.)

Councilwoman Thomas, Chair of the Housing and Community Affairs Committee, poignantly pointed out that we are all an integral piece of this puzzle. “From the resident who calls 211 after seeing an encampment, to The Coalition, to SEARCH and all the other agencies; Homelessness is a community issue that we are all stewards of,” Thomas said.

(Watch this presentation.)

Dr. Charlene Flash of Avenue 360 Health and Wellness, and Frances Isbell, Healthcare for the Homeless-Houston,  gave an in-depth and eye-opening presentation on Homeless Health and Healthcare. After sharing some staggering statistics — including that people experiencing homeless have an estimated reduced life span of 13-32 years — they stressed the need for a collaborative patient-centered model of care from the beginning to end of life, while never turning anyone away for their inability to pay. Flash and Isbell also addressed health disparities in Houston’s underserved communities: people of color, LGBTQ, uninsured, low-income, unstably housed, and homeless population.  (Watch this presentation.)

Sydney Carter, program & policy coordinator for the Network of Behavioral Health Providers, presented on Future Policy & Advocacy Opportunities for Housing & Homelessness. Carter explained what it looks like to be an advocate: supporting those who need help, correcting stigmatizing language, sharing one’s own story, and encouraging policymakers to prioritize behavioral health through legislation – and how hugely impactful advocacy can be. She shared five housing-related bills of interest and guided attendees on navigating legislation and contacting our elected officials on important matters while emphasizing the most powerful tools we have: our voice and our vote.  (Watch this presentation.)

This year’s State of Homelessness panel was moderated by Marc Eichenbaum, City of Houston Mayor's Office for Homeless Initiatives, and featured Barbie Brashear, Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council; Bob Eury, Central Houston; Mike Nichols, Coalition for the Homeless; and Wayne Young, The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD. Expanding on the collaborative theme of the day, each speaker explained their agency’s role in the system and how they work together to do what is best for people experiencing homelessness in our community. Eichenbaum closed out the session by asking about current opportunities that will keep the momentum going and continue to drive impact, as well as the concerns and challenges. (Watch the full panel discussion.) 

For our keynote, we were thrilled to welcome the executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, Jeff Olivet, from Washington, D.C. He began his career doing street outreach and has dedicated the last twenty-five years to helping people experiencing homelessness. Olivet arrived a few days in advance of the conference, eager to explore our city and get to know partners of The Way Home. He also joined the outreach team to visit an encampment and meet the people living there. Olivet asked them about their stories and listened as they told them.

In his keynote, Olivet shared a few stories from his week in Houston. He also touched on the SPARC initiative , his thoughts on Housing First, and network impoverishment. The underlying message of Olivet's talk was that "Homelessness is not an individual failure, it's a systematic one." Watch Olivet's Keynote to learn more about his work and his collaborative vision for the future. As he said, "It's good to celebrate the small victories but we are far from being done." (Watch the 2022 Keynote.)