How Houston's Whole-Community Innovation Ended Homelessness for 25,000

A remarkable transformation recently took place in Houston: 25,000 people found a path off the streets and into homes of their own. In June 2022, The New York Times heralded Houston's achievement, noting how the city had outpaced the nation in reducing homelessness. But underneath the headline is a story of how hard work, a common vision, and facilitated and collaborative effort overcame individual agendas and competing interests.

At the heart of the effort stood the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston. The Coalition was tasked with coordinating over 100 organizations, bringing together stakeholders and the community at large to co-create solutions tailored to their unique challenges.

The Coalition wanted to model the collaborative, collective spirit and behaviors that would be essential to success from the very beginning. So in November 2018, the Coalition hired Lizard Brain to design and facilitate a day of planning and collaboration that would bring the stakeholders and community members together for the first time.

Houston stakeholders and community members come together.

Brian Tarallo, managing director of Lizard Brain, and his colleague Lauren Green orchestrated a one-day Open Space-style conference. Open Space is a meeting format that allows participants to select the topics of discussion based on their interests. It allowed diverse topics to emerge. The 160 participants, ranging from community leaders to funders to service providers to the homeless themselves, engaged with each other as a whole system, co-creating solutions that worked across all of their varied interests.

Guiding the dozens of simultaneous conversations was the Community Bulletin Board: a large wall with a menu of conversation topics. Participants themselves populated the Community Bulletin Board. Throughout the day, anyone could reference the Community Bulletin Board to find what topics were being discussed, where in the room they were being discussed, and when they were being discussed.

A key principle of Open Space is the “Law of Two Feet,” which empowers anyone to join or leave any conversation based on the degree to which that conversation is serving the individual. It excuses participants from the awkwardness of being trapped in a conversation of decreasing utility because of social niceties. Participants simply say “thank you,” to leave one conversation and join another. The Law of Two Feet results in the optimal engagement of every participant.

As the small group conversations formed and dissolved and reformed, flipcharts filled with ideas and solutions, participants agreed to collaborative plans, and a sense of common purpose grew. As they discovered that their differences were not obstacles to collaboration, participants found common ground in their shared purpose. Rather than competing for resources or accolades, participants combined their efforts for the greater cause.

The story of how the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston began its work speaks to the power of collective action. It demonstrates how a city can overcome deep, systemic challenges when the people within the system work with each other towards a common purpose.