Dismantling the Narrative of Homelessness as a Choice Homelessness is one of the most urgent and visible crises in the U.S. At the same time, homelessness is one of the most misunderstood and misdiagnosed crises. My work in housing and homelessness means that for those in my personal life, I am the expert on all[…]

Enhancing Internal Controls for Homeless Services Non-Profits: Practical Strategies for Effective Governance By: Jim Ward In light of recent revelations about fraud, waste, and abuse of federal funding, there has never been a better time to revisit internal controls. Critical to the mission of ending homelessness, internal controls are the line between us and chaos.[…]

Homelessness Around the World By: William Kao When concentrating on addressing the issue of homelessness in our local communities, it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that other communities, both in the United States and around the world, face challenges that are both similar and different from each other. Each individual case[…]

The Value of Sharing Your Recovery from Homelessness By: Tammy Chan Dear Reader,  I am a member of the Texas Balance of State Continuum of Care (TX BoS CoC) Lived Experience Committee (LEC). I’m writing this post to share part of my journey and some things that I have come to see and believe are[…]

Earth Day 2021: Climate Change and the Impact on Homelessness By: Cindy Ramirez Everything is bigger in Texas… and that unfortunately also applies to the climate change in our state. According to a 2017 study published in Science, Texans will experience some of the worst effects of climate change, from a dwindle in harvests to[…]

Austin, Vote No on Proposition B – Let’s Double Down on Solutions By: Nick Thomspon Early Voting: April 19-27, 2021  |   Election Day: May 1, 2021 Please Vote NO on Prop B Find a polling place using the Travis County Clerk Website Because there has been so much misinformation about the proposition, let’s start with[…]

The Impact of Homelessness Awareness Day 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[…]

THN Opposes the Criminalization of Our Unhoused Neighbors Texas Homeless Network opposes HB 1925 and SB 987 because criminalization is the most expensive and least effective way of addressing homelessness. This bill seeks to hide people living outside from the immediate view of housed Texans rather than do what actually addresses homelessness – invest more[…]

Let’s Talk About Zoning By: Billy Streu Could zoning reform in Texas be a viable solution for our affordable housing crisis? Even more, could it begin to put a dent in economic and racial inequality? For many years, zoning reform has felt like a big Texas-size elephant in the room. President Biden’s housing plan includes[…]

“No, I’m not homeless. I’m just houseless”: On Nomadland By: Nick Thompson 4/26/2021 Update – Nomadland also picked up 6 Oscars including Best Picture and  Best Actress in addition to the Golden Globe wins described below.   This week Nomadland won two awards including best drama and director for Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of Jessica Bruder’s 2017[…]