HOUSTON \u2013 A city-owned building in East Downtown that has previously served as a women and children\u2019s shelter and at one point housed migrant children is set to take on a new role as a homeless services facility.<\/p>\n
City leaders ratified a lease agreement for the Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD to operate the site at 419 Emancipation. The facility will serve both men and women experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n
According to City of Houston Housing and Community Development Director Mike Nichols, the facility will operate 24 hours a day and provide comprehensive services for individuals experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n
Nichols said individuals will be assessed through a triage process and connected to the level of care and support most appropriate to their needs, with a focus on stabilization, treatment and transitioning into longer-term housing.<\/p>\n
The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD will oversee day-to-day operations, including staffing, clinical services, safety protocols, and program delivery.<\/p>\n
The city says Harris Health System will provide on-site physical health care services, while the Houston Police Department Homeless Outreach Team will be based at the facility to support coordinated outreach efforts.<\/p>\n
The facility can serve up to 222 individuals daily.<\/p>\n
People who live and work near the site said they support the effort, pointing to the need for services to help people experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n
The city is targeting a June 2026 opening.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 A city-owned building in East Downtown that has previously served as a women and children\u2019s shelter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[12884,4474,696,56,58,57],"class_list":["post-263648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-east-downtown","tag-homeless-shelter","tag-homelessness","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}