Houston, Texas (January 11, 2018) – The Coalition for the Homeless, staff from The Way Home partner agencies, and community volunteers will conduct the annual Homeless Count & Survey from Monday, January 22 through Thursday, January 25. The 2018 Homeless Count will identify the number of both sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals across Houston, Pasadena, Harris County, Fort Bend County, and Montgomery County.

“We celebrated many victories last year: a 60% reduction in overall homelessness since 2012 and housing more than 500 chronically homeless individuals in six months, as challenged by Mayor Turner,” said Marilyn Brown, President/CEO of the Coalition for the Homeless. “We also faced many challenges, including the Housing Choice Voucher freeze issued by HUD and the devastating destruction of Hurricane Harvey. The 2018 count will give us a better picture of how these challenges affected this vulnerable population.”

The count is divided into two categories to identify sheltered and unsheltered persons. The sheltered portion of the Count and the night of record will take place on January 22. The unsheltered and survey portion of the Count will take place over three days: January 23, 24, and 25. On those three days, specialized outreach teams will conduct brief, conversational surveys with individuals on the street to confirm that they were unsheltered for the night of the 22nd, and document what their housing needs may be. Coordinated Access Housing Assessments will also be offered on the spot to homeless Veterans, youth/young adults, and chronically homeless individuals. Interview access to spokespeople will be made available at key staging areas on Tuesday, January 23.

The annual Homeless Count is a requirement of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the local Continuum of Care (CoC) funding process, which brought more than $33 million in Fiscal Year 2016 to multiple homeless assistance programs in Houston, Pasadena, Harris County, Fort Bend County and Montgomery County. The Coalition for the Homeless applies for this funding each year, as lead agency to The Way Home, which is then used by homeless service partners to provide permanent housing, outreach, and supportive services to homeless individuals. Results from the 2018 Count will give an idea of the progress being made by the collaborative efforts of local service agencies. It will also provide specific demographic information needed to end chronic homelessness and continue to improve our region’s homeless response system.

During the 2018 Count & Survey, hundreds of The Way Home partner agency staff and community volunteers will depart from multiple staging areas across the greater Houston area to count and survey individuals, veterans, families and young people that live on the streets.

The Coalition for the Homeless is a non-profit, 501(c)3 whose mission is to provide leadership in the development, advocacy and coordination of community strategies to prevent and end homelessness. Learn more at www.homelesshouston.org.