A man waits for help to move from an encampment Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023, near Minute Maid Park in Houston. A worker from Coalition for the Homeless Houston waited with the man as workers cleared and cleaned the areas around his tent.
Jon Shapley/Staff photographer
A group of Houston-area philanthropists on Wednesday launched a $48 million fund dedicated to the “next chapter” in the city’s campaign to reduce homelessness.
The fund, known as “Pathways to Independence”, will focus on interventions to homelessness that are cheaper and faster than traditional housing and shelter programs. The money, announced at City Hall, comes at a crucial time for the city, which has paid for much of its homelessness response system in recent years with pandemic- or disaster-related funding from the federal government.
“The streets will no longer be the waiting room for homeless services,” said Ryan Dolibois, who leads one of the five philanthropic groups behind the fund and the committee that will oversee it.
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Roughly $34 million of the investment is already committed, with philanthropists working to raise the remainder.
The money is more flexible than the federal dollars the city has long relied on and will be aimed at populations that have generally fallen outside of existing systems. That includes interventions designed for those who have recently lost housing and people living with severe mental health or substance abuse issues, said Kelly Young, CEO of Coalition for the Homeless.
“What philanthropy is giving us an opportunity to do is build on what the city and county have done… and serve people we haven’t been able to serve before,” Young said. “It’s the first time outside of disaster dollars that we’ve been able to expand the pie.”
READ MORE: Houston’s homelessness strategy, hailed as a success story by other cities, is changing. Here’s how.
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City and nonprofit leaders have long hoped for a renewed philanthropic push on combatting homelessness. Mayor John Whitmire’s original, unrealized plan in 2024 included piecing together $70 million annually in a city fund, with $20 million coming through private gifts.
The fund announced Wednesday will be controlled by a new executive committee that includes a mix of philanthropists and government leaders, including city housing director Mike Nichols, homeland security director Larry Satterwhite, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez and county housing director Thao Costis.
The fund’s five original backers are the Sarofim Foundation, led by Dolibois, and The Brown Foundation, Cullen Foundation, Houston Endowment and Kinder Foundation.
The backers have not unveiled a detailed plan for the funds but cited potential solutions like short-term rental or utility assistance, helping people obtain employment or professional licenses or providing them a bus ticket to relatives outside of Houston.
If successful, the interventions would slow the pipeline of people entering homelessness and help alleviate pressure on the city’s established permanent housing and shelter programs, nonprofit officials say.
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The new money is only intended to last three years, however. Philanthropists said they hope the initiative can test new strategies and build a model that can “achieve long-term sustainability by securing public funding.” That includes pressing the Texas Legislature to pitch in state money, Dolibois said.
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The ultimate goal is to help Houston reach “equilibrium,” he said, in which all people experiencing homelessness are connected with housing or services within 90 days.