“Homelessness is one of those topics that leaves Americans despairing, but Houston offers hope: It demonstrates what should be obvious, that a wealthy society doesn’t have to accept as inevitable throngs of people sleeping on sidewalks. Delegations from around the country now troop to Houston to seek lessons, with the mayors of Chicago, Los Angeles and Denver traipsing through this summer.” 

“The lesson I take from Houston and Dallas is that success doesn’t come from repeating bromides about how housing is a human right; homelessness is indifferent to earnestness but does respond to hard work and meticulous execution. Houston has succeeded because it has strong political leadership that gathers data, follows evidence and herds nonprofits in the same direction. It is relentless.” 

From “Here’s How Houston Is Fighting Homelessness — and Winning” by Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times, November 22, 2023. 

Earlier this year, we had the pleasure of working with award-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof and his team when they visited Houston to learn more about our region’s success tackling homelessness and how our homeless response system works!

We are proud to see the incredible collective work of The Way Home be elevated in his column on homelessness.

We thank all those whose support, time and expertise made this piece possible, including our partners at Harris County — including our elected officials in Commissioners Court and the civil servants at Harris County Community Services Department — whose contributions, although not mentioned in the piece, play an integral role in the success of our system.