Partnership Home executive director Lauren King is usually excited to talk about the local state of homelessness — especially when it comes to how she and her partners are tackling it.
But this year, as King delivered the annual State of Homelessness Address to share data on Tarrant and Parker counties’ homeless populations, several concerns were top of mind. As the local homeless population increases, she worries that pending state and federal policy changes will drastically cut the funding and resources that she and other leaders use to house unsheltered residents and set them up for long-term success.
“A decrease in funding means an increase in homelessness. More people will live on the street, period,” King said, addressing a room full of housing advocates and city leaders Wednesday morning at Texas Wesleyan University.
During the address, King announced that homelessness increased by 11% from 2024 to 2025 in Tarrant and Parker counties.
Partnership Home, the lead agency in the counties’ homelessness response, reports a total of 2,637 people experiencing homelessness in Tarrant and Parker, with 2,289 of those individuals, or 86.8% of the total, located in Fort Worth. King noted that Fort Worth typically has the highest homeless population of Tarrant-area cities because it offers the most services to people experiencing homelessness.
The data comes from the annual Point in Time Count conducted in January by about 500 volunteers and roughly 150 police officers under King’s leadership. The federally mandated count is designed to be a snapshot of the number of people and families experiencing homelessness on a single night, though it’s not the only data point used to study local homelessness. The data collected is often used to advocate for local or federal funding, in addition to raising awareness and identifying trends.
Of the total experiencing homelessness across the two counties, 43% are experiencing sheltered homelessness, meaning they live in temporary housing such as shelters or transitional housing. The other 57% are unsheltered, according to data presented by Partnership Home, formerly known as the Tarrant County Homeless Coalition.
About 63% of unhoused residents counted in January were male, and 37% were female. About 11% were children.
A report of findings from the Point in Time Count highlights growing demand for low- to moderate-income housing and “existing shortfalls” as reasons for increased housing insecurity. In 2024, 45% of people experiencing homelessness in the area were doing so for the first time, according to the report.
In Dallas and Collin counties, homelessness decreased from 2024 to 2025 by nearly 5%, marking the fourth consecutive year that the population declined. Volunteers counted 3,541 people experiencing homelessness during the Dallas/Collin Point in Time Count in January, according to The Dallas Morning News.
From 2023 to 2024, Tarrant’s homelessness population decreased for the first time since 2021, with volunteers recording a 12% dip. At the time, a reported 1,936 people were experiencing homelessness in Fort Worth — about 350 less than the current estimate.
King told the Fort Worth Report she wasn’t surprised by the homeless population increase in 2024, explaining that an increase in resources to tackle homelessness in 2023 led to a direct boost in the number of people her organization could serve.
“Over and over, we see that when we get investments for housing, the number of people experiencing homelessness goes down,” King said.
Increasing concern over decreasing dollars
Looking forward, King worries that the homeless population will continue to increase year over year if the local, state and federal governments don’t increase funding and resources to address the issue.
Already, Partnership Home has lost $500,000 of “COVID-era” dollars after a federal grant that was scheduled to end in September was abruptly cut short at the end of March, King said. Her organization received about $2.5 million through the grant since the pandemic began in 2020. The funds had been used to give “a little bit of help to people who need help making ends meet,” such as helping those on a fixed or limited income ensure they get the benefits they’re entitled to, she said.
King named President Donald Trump’s “skinny budget” proposal, which would cut $163 billion to non-defense discretionary spending for the 2026 fiscal year, as a top concern in the coming months. Under the proposal, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development would consolidate its Continuum of Care and Emergency Solutions Grants programs into one block grant given to states. The agency would then decide how to use and distribute the funds — changing the current funding structure, which distributes federal dollars to local agencies.
“This is not a situation where we can do more with less,” King said.
She said Partnership Home receives a “high amount” of federal dollars but did not provide a specific dollar amount. At any point in time, the organization cares for about 2,100 households of people experiencing homelessness, King said. Of those, 1,900 households use federal funds — and “it would be devastating” if those funds were lost, she said.
King said many local homeless services providers would survive funding cuts and policy changes in 2026, but she worries about long-term sustainability through 2027 and 2029.
At the state level, King worries about the ramifications if Senate Bill 2623, a proposed law to restrict where homeless shelters may operate, becomes a reality. Under the proposal, facilities would be prohibited from performing homeless services within 1,500 feet of a school, and shelters in violation would be forced to either move, close down or face a $5,000 per day fine to stay.
Leaders of Fort Worth’s Presbyterian Night Shelter and Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County, two shelters within 1,500 feet of a charter school, previously told the Report that moving wouldn’t be a feasible option, and shutting down would be “absolutely detrimental” to the area’s homeless population.
King said she and other housing advocates have worked to educate state legislators in Austin on the impact of their proposals, adding that Fort Worth leaders successfully implemented an amendment to SB2623 to exempt shelters from the 1,500-feet limit if a controlled access highway, such as Interstate 30, separates the shelter and the school.
The bill passed the Senate and is now making its way through the House, where it could still be amended before it heads to the floor for a vote. The Legislature closes June 2.
City Council member Carlos Flores attended the address Wednesday and told the Report he’s “sympathetic to the concerns” that SB2623 stemmed from, but he doesn’t believe the bill as currently drafted is the solution. He suggested that if the bill gets signed into law, existing homeless facilities get grandfathered in to allow them to continue operating.
He also pointed to conditional use permits as an option for the city to explore in exempting certain facilities. Companies typically seek those permits when their intended purpose is generally compatible with existing zoning but may require further review to ensure the use is appropriate for the area.
“I think we need to be flexible about this, especially in areas where you already have established homeless resources,” Flores said. “It is very difficult to move that geographically, it’s really not a good option.”
King said it will take a collective effort and collaborative mindset to navigate potential changes. She noted the city of Fort Worth is a collaborative partner in the local homelessness response.
City Council members across the dais have emphasized the importance of addressing homelessness in recent months. At the beginning of the year before the Point in Time Count, city leaders announced plans to review and reallocate funding devoted to homelessness response, increase the number of people trained to conduct street outreach to people experiencing homelessness and create a strategic plan to guide homelessness efforts in the future.
Last month, Fort Worth staff began installing signage across the city to discourage drivers from donating to panhandlers and redirect them to local organizations focused on addressing the root causes of homelessness.
Although she doesn’t know what the future holds for homeless services, King said she’s trying to remain hopeful.
“For me, it’s our local community, and knowing that we will come together and we will work on solutions, and we will try things and see what works,” she said.
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org.
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