DEER PARK, Texas \u2013 As the Houston area continues to grapple with the issue of homelessness, grassroots groups are stepping in to meet needs many say the city has been slow to address.<\/p>\n
One such group began quietly in Deer Park\u2014with a bottle of cold water.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would see him walking, hot days, so I\u2019d pull over and give him a cold bottle of water,\u201d Jim Kloesel said.<\/p>\n
Kloesel is talking about Vann, a homeless man he met more than five years ago after he began to recognize him while driving for work in Deer Park. <\/p>\n
The cold water soon turned into warm lunches, and eventually, he invited Vann into his home.<\/p>\n
OUR FIRST REPORT: Vann\u2019s Posse shows how one small act can reshape a community<\/a><\/p>\n That progression, Kloesel said, wasn\u2019t impulsive\u2014it was built on trust.<\/p>\n \u201cHe didn\u2019t seem erratic or anything when I first approached him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Kloesel told KPRC 2 that allowing Vann to stay the night for the first time wasn\u2019t his idea.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was actually my wife that inspired that,\u201d Kloesel said. \u201cWe had just got out of the movies, 10 o\u2019clock at night, it was cold and rainy, and she spotted him over at the local food town without a shirt on, and he was out in the weather, so she said, \u2018I see Vann!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n For Vann, the first interaction was cautious.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the first few minutes he was talking, I felt a little uneasy,\u201d Vann said. \u201cBut he was nice and gave us a lot of invitations for work and social activity.\u201d<\/p>\n Jim took his work with Vann to social media, starting the Facebook group \u201cVann\u2019s Posse,\u201d and a group formed to help one man grew to 2,000 members since October 2025.<\/p>\n A screenshot from the Vann’s Posse Facebook group (Facebook \/ Vann’s Posse)<\/p>\n After KPRC 2\u2019s Zorrie Jones<\/a> and Holly Galvan-Posey<\/a> first reported on the group, Kloesel says about 150 people joined within hours, with nearly 775 new members added in a single week.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople all over the Houston area know about our group now,\u201d Kloesel wrote in a Facebook post.<\/a> \u201cHopefully they\u2019re starting Posse groups in their areas to help those who are less fortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n Through Vann\u2019s Posse, members now help provide food, clothing, hygiene supplies and transportation. <\/p>\n Kloesel has personally taken Vann to at least two court dates\u2014part of an effort to stop the cycle of citations, warrants and jail time that often accompanies homelessness.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people don\u2019t like him loitering around their businesses,\u201d Kloesel said. \u201cSo, he gets a ticket, misses court, gets picked up again. I\u2019m working on trying to stop all the warrants from happening.\u201d<\/p>\n The group has also helped track Vann\u2019s long daily walks\u2014sometimes spanning miles across Houston and surrounding communities\u2014by adding a small tracking device to a necklace he happily wears.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is his family,\u201d Kloesel said. \u201cVann\u2019s Posse is his family. He is not without a family.\u201d<\/p>\n The urgency behind Jim\u2019s efforts became clearer this week.<\/p>\n On Monday, Houston firefighters responded to a fire that destroyed an abandoned church. <\/p>\n Court records show that a 42-year-old man who identified as homeless was charged with felony arson after allegedly admitting he started the fire to keep warm.<\/p>\n Then on Thursday, a different fire destroyed a vacant hotel in Channelview that was routinely used by homeless individuals for shelter.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Fire at vacant Channelview hotel is seventh major fire at the property in just over a year<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s survival,\u201d Kloesel said. \u201cThey will do anything to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n Kloesel believes access to housing, counseling and basic resources could prevent incidents like fires, burglaries and survival-driven crimes.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they started the program, that would solve a lot of the issues they\u2019re having with the homeless,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n While Houston City Council has approved millions of dollars for long-term homelessness initiatives, including a $16 million \u201csuperhub,\u201d critics argue progress at the street level remains slow. <\/p>\n