Houston’s housing-first model is reducing homelessness. Here’s how it works and the obstacles it faces.

Across the United States, homelessness has surged in recent years, with many cities unable to keep pace due to soaring housing costs and an acute shortage of shelter beds. In response, municipalities have adopted divergent strategies—from criminalizing public camping to expanding shelter capacity and investing in alternative housing solutions.

Houston, once home to the sixth-largest homeless population in the country, chose a different path: the housing-first model. This approach prioritizes moving individuals into permanent housing as quickly as possible, while offering voluntary supportive services designed to sustain long-term tenancy.

“When we looked at all the different types of data from all the different strategies out there, housing with wrap-around support services was by far the most effective,” said Marc Eichenbaum, special assistant to Houston’s mayor on homeless initiatives.

As detailed in the first installment of this series, the greater Houston region has achieved a 63% reduction in homelessness since 2011—a record unmatched among the ten largest U.S. cities. Notably, Houston accomplished this without allocating any city funds beyond its federal allotment, and Eichenbaum asserts the city spends less than any other major metropolis on this issue. The key, he said, is deploying those limited resources with greater precision.

Other jurisdictions report similar success. Salt Lake City, Utah, and Columbus, Ohio, were among the first large U.S. cities to adopt housing-first approaches, according to Sophie House, law and policy director of the Housing Solutions Lab at New York University’s Furman Center. In Utah, more than 90% of individuals placed in permanent housing remained housed over several years, per a 2021 report from the state’s Office of the Legislative Auditor General.

Atlanta, which modeled its housing-first policy after Houston’s, has seen a nearly 40% drop in homelessness since the pandemic began.

Federal backing has been robust. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs have provided substantial financial support for permanent housing and housing-first programs. Through this model, three states and 82 communities, including Houston, achieved net zero veteran homelessness in 2021, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Why housing first?

Shelters remain integral to Houston’s strategy as the primary entry point into the housing pipeline, Eichenbaum said. Yet a shelter bed does not resolve homelessness—it merely manages it. Before 2012, the community spent millions annually on containment, he noted, but without a solution-oriented approach, the crisis only deepened.

“We said, we want to take all of our funds and really put it into solving the issue and not just running around in circles and managing it,” Eichenbaum said.

The housing-first philosophy rests on a simple premise: stable housing is the foundation upon which individuals can address other challenges. “People need to have access to safe, stable housing to be in the best position to receive other care and services,” said Alyse Oneto, research associate at the Urban Institute’s Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center, in an email.

The National Coalition to End Homelessness, the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, numerous scholars, advocacy groups, and HUD all affirm the model’s efficacy. “Housing First is the most effective approach for ending homelessness for most individuals and families,” said Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, in an email. She emphasized that, given scarce federal resources, communities must invest in approaches “proven to be the most successful in getting people off the streets and into housing.”

Supportive services—ranging from substance use and mental health counseling to employment training—are offered voluntarily once individuals are housed, Yentel explained. This method has proven especially effective for those with severe and persistent mental illness and for individuals experiencing prolonged homelessness, noted NYU’s House.

Data reinforce these claims. An Urban Institute evaluation of Denver’s housing-first program, published last year, found that 77% of participants remained stably housed over three years. Participants also saw a 40% reduction in shelter visits, a 40% reduction in arrests, a 30% reduction in jail stays, and a 40% reduction in emergency department visits. Oneto noted that about half of the per-person program cost was offset by avoided expenditures linked to those outcomes.

“In addition to being a proven strategy to end homelessness, Housing First is a responsible, accountable way to spend taxpayer dollars on homelessness issues,” Yentel added.

The voluntary nature of services is a critical design feature. “We discovered that when an individual feels like they are being made to do something, they’re less likely to do it,” Eichenbaum said, contrasting that with individuals who seek help on their own volition, even when “strategically encouraged by trained social workers.”

Housing-first challenges

Critics remain. Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, has argued in a 2020 report for the Heritage Foundation that, despite strong short-term housing retention, housing-first policies do “not improve symptoms related to drug addiction, mental illness, and general well-being—and have not reduced overall rates of homelessness.” He advocates reorienting federal policy toward programs requiring treatment, accountability, and a path to self-sufficiency.

Even proponents acknowledge operational hurdles. The model’s viability hinges on the availability of affordable rental housing suitable for diverse populations, said House. Houston’s relatively low population density, lax zoning, and cheaper home prices—compared with New York, San Francisco, or Los Angeles—have facilitated implementation. “It can be more challenging to implement a housing-first approach in cities where tighter housing markets drive up costs and limit the availability of rental housing,” House said, though she added that Houston’s experience “could provide valuable lessons for similar large cities.”

Houston has leveraged federal funds from the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan Act to bolster its homeless system, Eichenbaum said. Yet the post-pandemic housing market has tightened. Occupancy rates in affordable housing have hovered at 95% or above, slowing progress, said Sara Martinez, vice president of communications & development at the Coalition for the Homeless.

The coalition, lead agency for The Way Home—the greater Houston area’s HUD-designated Continuum of Care—oversees a dedicated landlord team and a cross-sector work group seeking innovative ways to secure affordable units, Martinez said. Still, “actually finding the multifamily unit from a landlord willing to lease to our clients with challenging backgrounds... is getting very difficult, and it is a crisis for our homeless response system here in Houston and across the country,” Eichenbaum said.

Officials and coalition liaisons work with the Houston Apartment Association and other groups, sometimes cold-calling landlords and knocking on doors. They offer incentive fees and nonrefundable property damage deposits to encourage participation. “The housing market is so strong right now, it’s very, very challenging,” Eichenbaum said in August. Despite signs of a slowdown in the housing market this fall due to higher interest rates, Houston’s crunch remains unchanged, he said last week.

Oneto identified additional systemic challenges: housing-first policies do not inherently slow the rate at which people become homeless, necessitating preventive strategies. Cities must design programs tailored to local needs, secure adequate funding and staffing, coordinate across agencies, and build community buy-in.

Thao Costis, president and CEO of SEARCH Homeless Services, a Houston-based agency within The Way Home system, said the biggest hurdle during rollout was “getting everyone to understand the concept and get on board as a system,” rather than having individual agencies apply their own criteria for housing eligibility. Ultimately, Costis attributed Houston’s success to sustained political will from city leaders and mayors, coupled with a genuine willingness among agencies and funders to collaborate.