CFTH Advocacy in Action!
A Recap of Capitol Hill Day 2024
The week of July 8th, members of our staff, partners of The Way Home and our local consumer advocate, Danielle Stephen, traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in Capitol Hill Day and attend the 2024 National Conference on Ending Homelessness.
At the conference, Renee Cavazos, our VP of the homeless response system (HRS), gave a presentation on building partner capacity, and Omar Martinez, our manager of the HRS planning and implementation, spoke about programs that boost income and stability for those we serve.
What is Capitol Hill Day?
Capitol Hill Day is an annual advocacy event during which organizations working to end homelessness engage directly with their members of Congress. Hosted by the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) and the Texas Homeless Network (THN), the goal is to share local successes and challenges in combating homelessness and to push for supportive policy measures to end homelessness. This event is an opportunity for advocates to make their voices heard on the national stage.
Our Initiatives at Capitol Hill Day
This year, CFTH proudly served as one of the two Texas State Coordinators for Capitol Hill Day, working closely with the THN and the NAEH. We sought to create a meaningful advocacy experience for The Way Home by crafting the 2024 The Way Home Capitol Hill Day Material Packet and coordinating key meetings with congressional representatives.
We met with staffers of our local representatives including Rep. Al Green (District 9, Harris and Fort Bend Counties), Rep. Dan Crenshaw (District 2, Harris County), Rep. Morgan Luttrell (District 8, Harris & Montgomery Counties), the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (District 18, Harris County), and Rep. Sylvia Garcia (District 29, Harris County).
Our advocacy priorities and requests included:
- Advocating for increased funding for HUD McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance programs.
- Support for renewing all existing Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV) contracts.
- Elimination or increase of the public service cap on Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds.
- Collaboration on policies to expedite homeless housing efforts, leveraging waivers granted during COVID-19.
- Continued partnership in homeless prevention efforts.
The Outcome
Out of the nine U.S. representatives representing our area, we were able to engage with five offices directly.
Our team had the support of Danielle Stephen, our local consumer advocate and youth representative on our Steering Committee. Danielle attended the NAEH conference alongside our team to learn more about the work to address homelessness in other cities. She also participated in Capitol Hill Day meetings to advocate for those in our system by using her own lived experience to demonstrate the importance of working as a collaborative across systems, the need for funding, and how engagement with elected officials makes a true difference to those we serve.
“I learned so much and connected with some wonderful people, and the most amazing part was advocating for my community.” - Danielle Stephen
Additionally, we had the support of our partner Harmony House who participated in meetings to advocate for provider needs and demonstrate the important role of partners within our system. There were several other provider partners who wished to attend but were unable to due to the impact of Hurricane Beryl, which hit Houston the same week.
Capitol Hill Day is more than just a day of meetings; it’s a chance to amplify the voices of those we serve and advocate for the resources and policies needed to end homelessness.
We thank everyone who supported our efforts, all The Way Home representatives who participated and our local Representatives’ offices, for their time and attention.
2000 Crawford St., Suite 700
Houston, TX 77002
*Please note we do not provide onsite services for people experiencing homelessness. If you are in need of immediate assistance, please call 211.
(713) 739-7514