We are thrilled with the success of our largest, and first-ever virtual, Homeless Awareness Day in the history of Texas Homeless Network (THN). Homelessness Awareness Day (HAD) is an advocacy day that aims to educate policymakers on homelessness and housing. With over 200 registered participants, we doubled in size from the last Texas legislative session in 2019 and almost tripled in size since 2017’s session. 

Throughout the day constituents from around the state met with their State Senator and Representatives to discuss homelessness from both a state and local level. 

People with lived experience, direct service providers, and other passionate advocates shared their stories and hopes to see an end to homelessness. Thanks to the efforts of our participants and staff, we are proud to say we educated over half of Texas Senator’s offices and 60 Texas Representative’s offices.

One of the priority bills advocates met with their legislators to talk about was HB 1260, a bill that will support the creation of a study of the Texas Homeless Data Sharing Network (THDSN) that Texas Homeless Network is leading. Because of Homelessness Awareness Day and the advocacy of our agency, HB 1260 was voted out of committee yesterday and will go to calendars. This is huge news and gets us one step closer to more efficient data sharing for homeless service providers across the state. We couldn’t have this success without all of you.

We cannot thank all the advocates across the state enough. Your participation keeps our collective voice louder and stronger. With numbers, we are able to hold politicians to be accountable to create real, meaningful, homelessness policy solutions. 

This year, Homelessness Awareness Day cemented our belief that advocacy can work. You can help sustain these efforts year-round by investing in our advocacy. We invite you to join us as a THN Advocate so that we can continue to do this vital work and expand our reach to policymakers and community members. We hold monthly Advocates meetings to discuss ongoing local, state, and federal policy. Anyone with lived experience can join these meetings without making a donation.  

Each stride we make is a step closer to ending homelessness within Texas. With your help, we will make a bigger impact at both the federal and state level. We look forward to making the 88th Texas Legislative Session in 2023 an even bigger success!