Veterans Generating Change: The Importance of Hiring Folks with Lived Experience By: Marliza Marin What would you do if you had to choose between a roof over your head or a source of steady income? For a veteran experiencing homelessness, the question wasn’t a hypothetical one. I had the honor of listening to Juan’s story. […]

Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day 2021 By: Eric Samuels Every morning at 6:45 a.m. I wake up, and like many of you, I check the emails that have come in throughout the evening or early morning. However, unlike most of you, the first email I read every day is about our neighbors who passed away. The […]

Texas Homeless Network Receives $2 Million Bezos Day 1 Families Fund Grant to Help End Homelessness for Families in Texas Day 1 Families Fund grants $96.2 million to 32 nonprofits across the country to provide shelter for children and families in need Texas Homeless Network (THN), an organization that leads Texas communities to make homelessness […]

Experiencing Homelessness as a Person with a Disability By: Tracy Ferezan Have you ever been grateful to have a roof over your head? Have you ever felt relief that you did not have a disability that prevented you from doing things in life such as daily chores? Now imagine if you will, having the before […]

A History of Homelessness in the United States By: Jen Beardsley Sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same. Annoying as platitudes may feel, this one is made gospel by the shockingly similar responses modern America and medieval Europe had to spikes in homelessness. While a conviction of vagrancy (or loitering, criminal […]

Renters – here is what you need to know about the eviction moratorium On August 3rd, the Center for Disease Control issued a new eviction moratorium order for non-payment of rent that covers an estimated 90% of renters across the country. The order is effective from August 3rd – October 3, 2021.  The new order […]

2021 Out of Reach Report from NLIHC National Low Income Housing Coalition just released the annual Out of Reach Report detailing housing unaffordability across the entire United States.  Another year goes by that Texas’ low-income tenants and homeowners are left behind again. Overall, Texas’ housing affordability continues to trend in the wrong direction while the state’s […]

The First Pride Was a Riot By: Jacq Taylor As we wrap up celebrating a more traditional Pride season full of parties and parades after a year of staying at home, I want to highlight how last year’s Pride season returned to its roots with the Uprising for Black Lives. Folx were in the streets […]

THN recognizes the long-term and continued impacts of slavery. For example, in homeless services, we know that the African American population makes up more than 40% of those experiencing homelessness, but represents 13 percent of the general population. To increase the education of service providers, THN invited guest blogger Ebony Jackson to create a condensed […]

What happened in the 87th Texas legislative session? By: Nick Thompson, THN Statewide Initiatives Manager As the session began in January, we were hopeful that given the immense housing needs of Texans both prior to the pandemic and during COVID-19 that our legislators at the Texas State Capitol would meet the moment. Then a month […]

Can’t make rent due to the pandemic? You’re likely still protected. THN Staff are not attorneys and are not giving legal advice. If you feel you are facing an unjust eviction, please contact Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid. Here is a page they have about the eviction moratorium.  If you are the 1 in 9 […]

Understanding the Diversity within Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities and Responding to Housing Insecurity and Homelessness By: Linda Xiong “Our ultimate objective in learning about anything is to try to create and develop a more just society than we have seen.” Yuri Kochiyama, Passion for Justice documentary Yuri Kochiyama was an American Civil Rights […]

Coordinated Entry as Collective Impact Work By: Linda Xiong In a previous post, I discussed how coordinated entry is an example of systems change in the context of ending homelessness. But where does someone start? What does it take to “do” systems change? For complex social problems like homelessness, collective impact can be a great […]