About Us

About Us

Who We Are

Mission

The Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County (CFTH) acts as a catalyst, uniting partners and maximizing resources to move people experiencing homelessness into permanent housing with supportive services. 


Vision

Everyone in our community has a safe place to call home.


History

Founded in 1982 and incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 1988, CFTH has a long-standing history as a leader of the local homeless response system.


People & Culture

CFTH is committed to fostering a welcoming and respectful workplace. We believe that to effectively lead and serve our varied clients, partners, and communities, we must cultivate an organizational culture where all employees feel valued and supported. CFTH also seeks to provide equitable access to housing and services for all individuals in need. Our policies and practices are designed to be non-discriminatory, ensuring that assistance is available to everyone, regardless of background.


What We Do

CFTH is the designated coordinator of the homeless response system for Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery Counties.

CFTH is the backbone of Houston’s solutions to homelessness. We’re a nonprofit organization that uses the power of collective impact. 


Our community has dozens of direct service providers who work directly with people experiencing homelessness to move them from homelessness to housing. CFTH supports those agencies by making sure we are coordinated and well resourced, and by keeping an eye on system-level data and trends.


To better understand our role, think of air travel. CFTH is like air traffic control for the homeless response system, while the service providers are like the airlines. We:


  • Coordinate the work of the local homeless response system (The Way Home) for maximum impact
  • Secure and grow funding
  • Navigate the complexities of an ever-changing landscape
  • Eradicate duplication across service providers
  • Forecast needs and uncover insights using data that we collect and maintain
  • Solve barriers to housing


  • Fill gaps. Execute special projects to enhance homelessness response locally and nationally
  • Build out best practices
  • Drive the evolution of the system
  • Develop innovative programs to address homelessness

 Leadership

CFTH is led by an experienced management team.

Kelly Young

President/Chief Executive Officer

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David Barron

Senior Director of

Finance

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Katina Baldwin

Senior Director of

Development

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Toni Benson-Atkinson

Director of Program Operations

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Renee Cavazos

Vice President of the Homeless Response System

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Jamey Caruthers

Director of Public

Affairs

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Erol Fetahagic

Director of Analytics

 & Evaluation

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James Gonzalez

Vice President of Program Operations

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Sarah Holmes

Director of Grants & Procurement

Kathy Murray

Chief Financial & Administrative Officer 

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Josue Rodriguez

Director of Community & Strategy

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Catherine Villarreal

Vice President

of Public Affairs

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Board

FY 2025 Board Officers

Chris Hanslik

Chair


Troi Taylor

Past Chair


Annette Garber

Secretary


Kyle Gifford

Treasurer

FY 2025 Board Members

Teddy Adams
Ashley Allen, PhD

Devon Anderson

Tina Arias Peterman

Ric Campo

Redick Edwards

Doug Foshee

Lance Gilliam

Erica Hughes, Esq.

Michael Lykes

Chrishelle Palay

Diana Patiño

Santhi Periasamy, PhD
Shannah Stephens

Kris Thomas

Ken Valach

Document Center

View CFTH's 990, financial statements, and privacy policy.
  • Financial Reports

  • Privacy Policy

    Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County’s Online Privacy Policy

    The Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County (CFTH) is strongly committed to protecting the privacy of its online visitors. We do not collect personally identifiable information, such as names and postal and/or email addresses, except when it is specifically provided when requesting information regarding CFTH or making an online donation. We do not sell or share visitors’ information. 

     

    This privacy policy only applies to the homelesshouston.org website and does not apply to any other website. The terms of this privacy policy shall govern all interactions with CFTH through either CFTH’s website or email. By using CFTH’s website or communicating with us by email, you agree to the terms of this privacy policy. 

     

    Signing up for email updates or making a donation:

    You may use CFTH's website without registering or submitting any personal information. Those who choose to donate online will be asked to provide information required to process and service the donation, including: name, billing and/or shipping postal address(es), telephone number, email address, and credit/debit card number. All credit card numbers are submitted through a donation page hosted by Network For Good and are encrypted using “Secure Socket Layer” (SSL) encryption. Donors receive an email confirmation of their donation as well as a tax receipt. If you elect to receive information from CFTH, we may ask for your email address and/or name and postal address, dependent upon your preferred method of communication. 

     

    Electronic Surveys:

    CFTH may occasionally post surveys on its website or send them via email. Participation in these surveys is voluntary and anonymous unless otherwise stated. The information from survey responses is used to better understand visitors and increase customer satisfaction. 

     

    Information Collected Automatically:

    CFTH website, like other websites, collects some non-personally identifiable information about visitors as they view pages, placing “cookies” (small files that reside in a computer’s browser) on visitors’ computers for site traffic analysis, such as the number of visitors and pages viewed. This information helps CFTH monitor how visitors use the site and allows us to provide an optimal experience and better service. CFTH’s website can provide nearly full functionality without the use of cookies. Visitors can opt to set their web browser to reject cookies without any significant impact to our website’s features and functions.

     

    Emailing CFTH:

    Emails to CFTH are routed to the appropriate department with the goal of replying within seven business days to those requiring a response. We are pleased to hear from visitors and may choose to save the information in the emails; however, any message, material, business information, ideas, concepts, or other information sent to CFTH by email will be treated as non-confidential and non-proprietary. 

     

    Data Security:

    CFTH makes every reasonable effort to ensure that all of the transactions on our website are secure. To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic and administrative procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. We never use or share the personally identifiable information provided to us online in ways unrelated to the ones described above without also providing you an opportunity to opt-out or otherwise prohibit such unrelated uses. 

     

    Third-Party Service Providers:

    CFTH engages reputable third-party vendors to help us manage our website and provide optimal visitor experience. CFTH requires its vendors by contract to maintain the confidentiality and security of the information and restricts the vendors from using the information in any way not expressly authorized by CFTH. CFTH’s site may contain links to other websites such as our third-party vendors, sponsors, and other organizations. Once you leave CFTH’s website, this privacy policy will not apply. 

     

    How you can correct or access your information:

    You can access all of your personally identifiable information that we collect online and maintain by contacting Renee Cavazos. You can correct factual errors in your personally identifiable information by sending us a request that credibly shows error. To protect your privacy and security, we will also take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting access or making corrections. 

     

    Should you have any other questions or concerns about these privacy policies, please contact Renee Cavazos

     

    Changes to Privacy Policy:

    CFTH may revise its privacy policy at any time. We encourage you to visit this page periodically to review our current policy to determine what information is gathered and how it is used.

Media Center

Media Kit

For the latest facts, press releases, and key personnel for CFTH, visit our digital Media Kit.

Press Contacts

For media inquiries, additional information and/or questions, please contact our Communications Manager, Fryda Ochoa.

Careers

To view all open positions, visit our Prism HR page.


If you have any questions or concerns, please email Rachel Brooks.

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