He announced plans in late November that included a $70 million one- to two-year pilot program to start the process he hopes will be completed by the end of 2026.
Funding the project
Michael Nichols, director of Houston’s Housing and Community Development Department, announced in February that the first $21.8 million was secured for the program, including:
- $17.5 million through a combination of general city and federal funds
- $700,000 from the state’s Homeless Housing and Services Program
- $1 million from the Downtown Management District
- $2.6 million from the Houston First Corporation
The $70 million does not include funding for mental health, housing vouchers, disaster relief, or support for the city and county’s law enforcement.
The plan
Nichols said one of the main goals of the new initiative is to help all homeless people in Houston find housing within 30 days of identification.
Catherine Villarreal, vice president of public affairs for the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County, said she believes Houston has always focused on permanent housing, but this plan aims toward increasing rapid rehousing.
Rapid rehousing, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, is the process of finding short-term rental assistance and services to help people obtain housing quickly. More than half of the $70 million funding will go toward rapid rehousing.
- $45 million: Rapid rehousing
- $11 million: Permanent supportive housing:
- $3.8 million: Mental health hub and shelter
- $3.6 million Navigation center
- $3.3 million: Outreach
- $2.6 million: Diversion
Nichols said one way to help address that issue is through creating a low-barrier shelter—a space where people can bring pets and partners and don’t need to be sober to enter—as well as expanding the number of available beds and affordable housing.
Affordable housing, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is a form of housing where an occupant is paying no more than 30% of their gross income for housing costs.
According to the annual Housing Inventory Count conducted by the Coalition for the Homeless, there are approximately 7,800 affordable housing units within the homeless response system across Harris County and about 10,400 beds.
Offering input
Edward Pollard, Houston City Council District J member, said he has recently seen an uptick in unhoused individuals around Hwy. 59 and Loop 610 near Gulfton and Sharpstown.
“With District J, we’re the most densely populated area of Houston, ... and we have a very diverse community,” he said. “You have a lot of undocumented people, refugees, asylum seekers, immigrants and first generation that just don’t have the same resources that others may have in the city.”
Pollard said his office has decommissioned encampments in Gulfton and near Chimney Rock Road. He said the biggest roadblock in helping those individuals is housing options.
“If you don’t have a place for [individuals] to go, then you’re just displacing them to another area,” he said. “So the biggest thing is having available space, and that is something that has to be at the top of the priority list for any homeless initiative.”
Assessing the need
According to the 2024 Point-in-Time Count and Survey conducted by the Coalition for the Homeless, an annual event where volunteers count sheltered and unsheltered individuals on a single night, approximately 2,939 people experience homelessness in Harris County with 32% of individuals unsheltered.
Coalition volunteers conducted the 2025 count in January, and although the results won’t be released until spring, Villarreal said she believes the results may show an incline in the homeless population.
She said the increase could be due to the loss of federal COVID-19 funds, which have been sustaining homelessness programs since 2021.
Nichols said the city will begin to distribute the $70 million as funds become available, however the initial plan only covers the next one to two years.
He said the administration will begin to look for long-term sustainable sources in the meantime from entities such as:
- The Texas Legislature
- The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Houston’s tax increment reinvestment zones
- Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County
