HOT is currently comprised of one sergeant, six HPD police officers, one Metro PD officer, one senior police service officer, and four case managers from The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD. The team helps the homeless with the following:
- Housing
- Social Security cards
- Passports
- Birth certificates
- Shelter referrals
- Medical equipment
- Employment
- Bus fare
- Medical care
- Mental health treatment
History
The Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) started as a pilot program in January 2011. It was made a permanent program in the department after a very successful six-month pilot. Sergeant Stephen Wick, the team’s first supervisor, and Senior Police Officer Jaime Giraldo developed and implemented the program
Collaboration
The team works with several organizations. The following are a few:
- Mayor’s Office of Homeless Initiatives
- Houston Coalition for the Homeless
- SEARCH Homeless Services
- Lord of the Streets
- Bread of Life
- Palmer Way Station
- Star of Hope
- Salvation Army
- Healthcare for the Homeless
- US Vets
- DeGeorge Veterans Housing
- Main Street Ministries
- Goodwill
Goal
The Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) is a specialized group of Houston Police Officers and mental health case managers who engage in street outreach to the chronically homeless. The team is relationship focused and works to find individual solutions to the problems that have people living on the streets.
The (HOT) team has been named a finalist for the International Association of Chiefs of Police Community Policing Award and other cities and departments have examined Houston’s HOT and are using it as a model for their own agency. In 2018 HOT sheltered or assisted in perminant supportive housing for 323 persons and interacted and obtained services for many more chronic homeless.
According to HUD, homeless individuals cost communities $40,000 per year whereas housed consumers cost $12,000. Based on this estimate, the HOT put homeless on the path to being housed, saving a potential $9,044,000 per year.
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Page photo credits:
Godofredo A. Vasquez, Staff Photographer / Houston Chronicle
Paul Garner / People’s Trebune
Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle
