How Houston handled the Homelessness Crisis

Here are the ways homelessness is handled in Houston and what may happen in the future due to COVID-19.

Houston has been tackling the problem of homelessness for years, making 2019 the year with the lowest rate of homelessness for the city in the last 8 years, according to Houston Public Media.

 “Compared to 2011’s tally of 8,538 homeless individuals, there has been an encouraging 54 percent decrease in overall homelessness in the greater Houston area over the past eight years,” said Schaefer Edwards for Houstonia Magazine.

With such an enormous city that has a population of over 4.7 million inhabitants, these numbers are encouraging. This is only possible with all of the different efforts in place across the county to help reduce this number.

Source: Statistics and Coalition for the Homeless

Source: Houston Chronicle

There are different factors which have helped Houston reduce the number of homeless people in the area. Contrary to popular opinion, the majority of homeless people are not due to substance abuse. In fact,  an economic crisis  (similar to what is going on right now) is the cause for over 50 percent of those on the streets in the Houston region. Substance abuse and different mental illnesses account for only 19 percent of the homeless population. 

Different organizations, such as the Coalition for the Homeless have come together to both advocate for less anti-homeless action by educating the public on statistics like this and creating more inclusive efforts to help them off of the streets. 

The Coalition for the Homeless was founded in 1982. Their mission is to help the homeless in finding shelter, job opportunities and resources that will remove them from the streets and into more suitable living conditions. They serve as a center for research about homelessness. This raises awareness of the issue at hand and garners more help. 

Their other mission is project management. This is what actually gets people off the streets and implements effective preventative methods in the community. According to the  Kinder Institute Research , this Coalition alone has provided over 17 thousand permanent housing placements since 2012.

Credit: Coalition for Homeless Houston

The Coalition for the Homeless also partners up with other resources, such as veteran organizations, to try to create an accurate data set of homeless people with their  Homeless Count and Survey . This data set measures variables including age, race/ethnicity and if they have served in the military or not.

U.S.VETS is another organization dedicated to the aid and removal of homeless veterans from the streets. Their mission is to help with successful transitions of military veterans and their families through the provision of housing, counseling, career development and support.

“Compared to 2011’s tally of 8,538 homeless individuals, there has been an encouraging 54 percent decrease in overall homelessness in the greater Houston area over the past eight years”

According to the  U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs , 28 percent of the Houston homeless population are veterans. 

Founded in Houston in 1997,  U.S.VETS supports  veterans by providing them with access to resources such as permanent housing, job training and counseling. They also provide families of veterans with these same resources and access to food banks. 

This organization serves over 3,000 veterans each day. In Houston alone, there are three locations in the Harris County area that service over 1,000 veterans and their families per month. 

Source: Harris County Veteran Service

U.S.VETS is one of the many resource centers linked to the Coalition for the Homeless. They are also recognized as one of the leading non-profit organizations in the nation for their resources and accomplishments with locations in over 11 major cities nationwide. 

Due to organizations like these, the perception of homlessness in the past 10 years has changed. According  to the Kinder Research Institute , the number of Harris County respondents that believe the government has a responsibility to reduce the inequalities in homelessness has increased from 50 percent in 2009 to 62 percent in 2019. 

There was also an increase in the respondents who agree the government should reduce the income difference between the rich and the poor. Higher percentages of respondents believe that welfare recipients actually need the help. 

Thus all of the organizations are doing their job to raise awareness of homelessness and changing public opinion about it. 

How COVID-19 may affect these numbers

In March 2020, Texas was placed on a Stay At Home Order by Gov. Greg Abbott. With this order, many of the Houston residents were told to stay at home if they were not essential workers, with many companies firing their workers due to the lack of potential revenue for the upcoming months.

As a whole, retail companies have lost  8.7 percent of their revenue in April , another decrease from the previous month. In apparel retailers, holiday sales are already expected to be 40 percent lower than last year. For car sales, the average dropped by 25 percent from March. Some jobs, like Bath and Body Works, offered paid leave during this crisis, but many companies, such as Sephora, fired their part-time, seasonal and even full-time workers in order to make up for their potential loss. 

In total, about 47 million are projected to apply for unemployment. In Texas alone, over 1.3 million people successfully filed for unemployment as of April 23. According to Texas Tribune, the Texas Workforce Commission’s website and  phone lines have been overwhelmed by millions of queries daily .

The economy, based in oil and gas, is projected to drop as a whole. Gas prices have been the lowest it’s been in years. Fort Bend County, which relies heavily on oil and gas, is expected to be affected the most during these times. 

In the nation, Houston is not one of the major cities being affected by the pandemic, being one of the lowest death-rates among major U.S. cities. Still, the city has precautions in place to ensure the death toll stays low, but this prohibits businesses from maintaining a steady income. Many small businesses in the past two months have closed down due to the lack of income.

With all of these factors in place, the recession is in full effect. With this recession, homelessness is projected to rise again. According to the Kinder Institute study, nearly one-third of respondents reported a total household income of less than $37,500. This leaves little room for emergency funds for situations like this and will lead to a rise in the homeless population. 

This will also hinder those who were in progress of removing themselves from the streets as well. In fact, many homeless people are already facing new issues in the past couple of months. 

Many of the organizations who worked to help the homeless are still operating. However, the hiring process is being delayed due to the lack of income. They are also hindered if they do not have access to the now digital interview process.

For those who reside on the streets, there are many fears. According to Wired, many homeless people are  having trouble finding places to sleep , as they are afraid of catching the virus themselves. They also do not have access to resources such as toilet paper and soap due to the mass buying and taking of these materials.

In the past 10 years, the homeless population has had a positive turn due to organizations like the Coalition for the Homeless and the U.S.VETS. Unfortunately though, their jobs are even more critical now in face of a looming economic crisis after the effects of COVID-19 set in. 

Sources

Source: Statistics and Coalition for the Homeless

Source: Houston Chronicle

Credit: Coalition for Homeless Houston

Source: Harris County Veteran Service