The Tarrant County Homeless Coalition is adopting a new name but keeping the same priorities — aiding the needy and supporting affordable housing.
The nonprofit organization, founded in 1989, announced Sept. 4 that it will change its name to Partnership Home, a brand intended to reflect the group’s areawide mission to spark transformative change and innovative solutions to housing issues through strong partnerships.
The group’s new name, Partnership Home Executive Director Lauren King said, “is aspirational, but captures what we do. … It doesn’t change who we are and what we’re doing.”
The group and its partners, she said, share a vision of “being a vibrant community where everyone has a place to call home.”
“With a renewed focus on innovative solutions, thought leadership and strengthening existing and new community partnerships, our goal is to build on a foundation of success to meet the continued and emerging needs as our community changes,” King said.
The organization, which manages homeless response in Tarrant and Parker counties, seeks to invest in preventing homelessness and housing development programs by partnering with more than 50 local organizations. In 2023, the nonprofit trained more than 2,500 professionals, partnered with 130 landlords and property owners and secured more than $55 million to develop supportive housing, according to a news release.
King, during the coalition’s State of Homeless address on March 27, said that recent investments lead to a 12% decrease in the area’s homeless population, the Fort Worth Report previously reported. An annual Point in Time Count on Jan. 25 showed that about 2,390 people in Tarrant and Parker counties experienced homelessness, with 81% of them in Fort Worth.
King said about 2,100 people in Tarrant County are homeless on an average day.
In June, the nonprofit created a working group called HOME FTW, a collaborative effort between several organizations to develop affordable housing. The group formally supports Fort Worth’s Neighborhood Conservation Plan and Affordable Housing Strategy.
In addition to Partnership Home, organizations involved in HOME FTW include Columbia Renaissance Heights, Development Corporation of Tarrant County, Design Fort Worth, Fort Worth Community Land Trust, Habitat for Humanity, Housing Channel, Journey Home Housing, New Leaf Community Services, Ojala Partners LP, Phan Foundation, Rainwater Foundation, Samaritan House and the United Way of Tarrant County.
Partnerships are important, King said, because they can help people overcome barriers to housing.
Victoria Farrar-Myers, Partnership Home board chairwoman and a former Arlington City Council member, said the region is at a “critical juncture” where it can no longer react to problems but must also look at policy changes that solve underlying housing affordability issues.
“We have become a region where the face of housing instability and homelessness has changed; these are now issues for two-income families, teachers, first responders and others,” Farrar-Myers said. “As an organization, Partnership Home is committed to evolving to reflect the changing demographics and needs of our community.”
Partnership Home will host a one-day housing summit Nov. 6 at the Sheraton Hotel, 1701 Commerce St. in downtown Fort Worth. The event will include panel discussions such as “If We Don’t Build It, They Will Still Come;” “The Unusual Suspects (Untraditional Partners),” “Show Me the Money” and “What’s in Your Tool Box?”
Waco-based economist Ray Perryman will be the luncheon keynote speaker. For more information on the summit, contact Aesha Desai at aesha@ahomewithhope.org.
Eric E. Garcia is a senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org.
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This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.