Houston officials unveiled a three-year homelessness initiative with a $48 million funding goal. The program aims to provide faster assistance as the city’s residential treatment center struggles to move people into housing.
The new “Pathways 2 Independence” has raised $34 million towards its three-year goal, according to the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston.
The Coalition will partner with Harris County and the city for “faster, more flexible interventions” for chronic homelessness through the new program.
Houston Housing Director Mike Nichols expects the program to help move people more quickly through the city’s homeless services facility at 419 Emancipation Avenue.
Operated by the Harris Center for Mental Health and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities under a $39 million contract, the facility has served more than 420 people since opening in late May.
According to Nichols, 110 people who were served have landed in “positive placements,” and 150 had “unknown” outcomes, choosing to leave the program.
However, the center has struggled to quickly move people through the program, averaging more than 60 days at the facility. Nichols said the new Pathways 2 Independence program should help.
Additionally, the program could provide other services such as short-term housing for formerly incarcerated people, according to Kelly Young, president and CEO of the Coalition.
“We think we can solve homelessness — anybody’s homelessness, any reason for homelessness,” said Young.
The Coalition oversees about $70 million in annual funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which comes with restrictions. The new initiative relies on local philanthropic funds, including the Brown Foundation, Cullen Foundation, Houston Endowment, Kinder Foundation, and Sarofim Foundation.
An 11-member executive committee will oversee the funds. Members include Young, city and county representatives, and leaders in mental health, medical care, and business.
“It is not the city’s money, it is philanthropy’s money,” said Nichols. “They want to drive this funding to help people to get off the street — but be creative, to be flexible, which is different than we have with government money.”
According to Houston Public Media, the Coalition hopes that local, state, or federal funding will support the program at the end of three years.
