An annual survey of the homeless population in the Houston area suggested that the region — which has attracted international attention for its ability to reduce homelessness — is at an inflection point.
As the emergency funding that it had used to quickly move individuals off the streets into housing has run out, progress in reducing the size of the homeless population stalled, and the share of people who have been homeless for a year or more increased.
Leaders in the efforts to reduce homelessness are calling for more funding, as well as more sustainable money sources, to prevent the number from growing even further. Kelly Young, head of the Coalition for the Homeless in Houston and Harris County, pointed to the region’s successful use of emergency funding as proof that more funds could once again make a dent.
“We use money effectively and efficiently,” she said. While homelessness in the Houston region has flatlined in recent years, it’s still down one-sixth from the start of the pandemic. In contrast, homelessness nationwide surged by a third.
When the pandemic broke loose, unleashing with it an influx of federal emergency funding, homeless organizations used that funding to quickly move individuals off the streets, leading to a 21% drop in homelessness between 2020 and 2022.
In the years since, homelessness has increased by 6%, according to the count. Volunteers counted about 3,330 people this January living in shelters, on the streets or in other places not meant for habitation, up from roughly 3,120 in 2022.
The survey differentiates people who live in shelters from people who live in other places not meant for habitation, such a on sidewalks or in tents, cars or abandoned buildings. Volunteers counted about 1,280 unsheltered individuals — a 16% percent increase from the roughly 1,110 people the January before.
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But as resources have dwindled, so has the number of people homeless organizations are moving off the streets into housing. In 2024, the Houston region relocated more than 2,330 people into housing, a decrease of one-third from the nearly 3,630 people housed in 2023.
The slight increase in overall homelessness comes after Mayor John Whitmire in November announced a $70 million-a-year plan to end street homelessness in Houston.
The city did not respond to questions regarding the current status of funding. As of June, housing department officials reported the city had given $23 million, METRO up to $10 million a year and Houston First up to $2.6 million a year to pull off the effort. Officials are still seeking $60 million in donations for a plan that they estimate will cost $210 million through 2027.
Houston has also requested that HUD allocate $40 million of the $314 million intended to recover from Hurricane Beryl and the 2024 derecho toward the homelessness plan. That plan has not yet been approved by HUD, which will have 45 days to review the proposal after it is submitted by Sept. 19.
Harris County housing officials said Monday they had pledged $16 million toward addressing homelessness.
The $70 million-a-year plan would be in addition to the annual funds that HUD has long channeled to homeless prevention. The Trump administration has proposed significant changes to funding and how it could be used, and it remains to be seen what Congress will enact for the 2026 fiscal year budget.
I don’t expect things to get better in the short term, despite the Mayor’s pledge. We’re not going to get any real help from the federal government, which at this time would rather these folks all get locked up. Longer term mitigations include building a lot more and more-affordable housing, more direct financial help for lower income folks, more services for mental health and drug addition (which among other things will require expanding Medicaid in Texas and fully funding the rest of the program nationally), and more. Again, it will get worse before it gets better. It’s good we made the progress that we did here, but it will be harder to keep up for now.