When most people hear the word “homeless,” they likely picture a person on the sidewalk of an inner city, huddled against a building, or sitting stooped in a doorway. Amber Paaso is the new Fort Bend County Project Manager for the Houston-based Coalition for the Homeless.[/caption] But Sugar Land resident Amber Paaso is making it her mission to remind people that that stereotypical image does not apply to every person or family who find themselves without a place to sleep at night. Paaso is the new Fort Bend County Project Manager for the Houston-based Coalition for the Homeless, and she is working to make people aware that on an average night, there are 67 people in Fort Bend County with no place to go, according to the coalition’s statistics. “The challenge is that because people don’t see it, they think it doesn’t exist,” Paaso says. “People need to know that homelessness comes in different forms.” Paaso herself received a shock when she learned that the same suburban Wal-Mart near her old office where she often shopped, frequently attracts people to its parking lot at night, sleeping in their cars because they have no home. “I thought, ‘How can this be happening here?’” said Paaso. “Fort Bend is an affluent county. We don’t expect it.” Paaso started as project manager in August. Prior to that she spent nearly a decade working for the Fort Bend County Women’s Center, first as a Learning Resource Coordinator and most recently as the Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator. That experience working with FBWC taught Paaso that many people care about those in need and want to help. “Working for the women’s center is where I found the compassion among people in Fort Bend,” says Passo, 47. “As a volunteer coordinator I had people calling, saying ‘Help me help.’ We have a very giving community.” The coalition works to find long-term affordable housing for those who need it. It covers part of the family’s monthly rent, and provides a case manager who works to ensure the family finds whatever they are lacking, such as employment, education, daycare, budgeting skills, or advice on being a good tenant. Sara Brown, communications manager for the coalition, says there is no limit on how long the coalition will provide rental assistance, but the average family is able to cover their rent entirely within six to eight months. Paaso says that helping people to find affordable housing in Fort Bend County comes with unique challenges, one of which is, simply, a lack of affordable housing in the area. Also, there are no dedicated homeless shelters in Fort Bend County. Instead, a patchwork of churches and nonprofit agencies offer temporary shelter to those in need, she says. That can make the coalition’s job difficult, because it’s easier to lose track of people who, by their circumstances of having no home, often cannot stay in one place. For many people, a hurdle to getting into an apartment can be the high upfront costs. Many landlords require nonrefundable move-in fees in addition to the first and last month’s rent. Many also require above-average credit and rental histories. The coalition will often negotiate with landlords to reduce or waive those fees, and also to look past spotty credit histories. “It’s next to impossible for people to find a safe place to live with poor credit histories and evictions on their history,” Brown says. The case manager also serves as a go-between, taking calls from landlords in the event rent money doesn’t show up or problems arise with the tenant. Working with landlords in that way helps to convince them to rent to a person they normally wouldn’t. The coalition has had a major impact, with homelessness figures in Fort Bend County dropping by 57 percent since 2011, according to Brown. But still, Paaso thinks about those 67 people in Fort Bend who don’t know where they will sleep from one night to the next. And she has a message for people who might not consider their plight: “Many families that face a crisis like a layoff or a medical condition, they struggle and then there’s one day they can’t pay the rent,” Paaso says. “It could be anybody, your child’s friend or the guy at the bar you watch the game with.”