Our History

OUR HISTORY

Because of an un-silenced voice, House the Homeless leadership – largely Richard R. Troxell – sees and is able to communicate the problem and potential solutions as free-agents. As a grassroots organization that accepts no government funding, our voice has always been loud and clear, whatever the consequences. On the contrary, others feeling job vulnerabilities may not be in a position to be as vocal. One example includes our campaign to oppose the “quality of life” ordinances that criminalize homelessness and restrict people’s civil rights. In 2008, when others worked to pass the “no camping” ordinance, House the Homeless bought a full-page Sunday ad in the Austin American Statesman, showing the cost of jailing vs. job training. We framed the issue so people could understand the moral and economic concerns. Sadly, the City and the nation are returning to those days when homelessness was, and is now AGAIN, criminalized.

Universal Living Wage / Livable Incomes Campaign is a national empowerment project, with adopters and advocates https://www.UniversalLivingWage.org. Conceived by Richard R. Troxell in the early 2000’s as a unique formula, devised to ensures that anyone working 40 hours in a week will be able to afford basic food, clothing, shelter, public transportation, and access to the emergency room. The U.S. Military and the federal government have both adopted our tenet of making their wages relate to the local cost of housing.

Over time, Richard R. Troxell broadened the Campaign to end economic homelessness by promoting “Livable Incomes” to address those who cannot work. Thus, our advocacy includes an increase to the federal Social Security disability stipend so that they too can afford basic housing, while continuing to promote the Universal Living Wage with its formula indexed on the cost of housing wherever that person lives.

HTH Highlights (Partial)

2024

– Blythe Plunkett is our 2024 President, doing a great job with Amplify Austin, the Memorial, and Planning the 2025 HUGSS event. Will Hyatt is our apostle of giving, working with dozens of individuals at any given time, to empower and equip; to pray with; to lift up and restore hope as HtH is Boots on the Ground. PJ Liles continues to be a force (of faith) as he brings the gift of music to HtH events and more. We also completed and are distributing the 18th edition of the HtH Plastic Pocket Resource Guide, designed by Richard R. Troxell.

2022, 2023.

Richard continues the ULW Campaign, including automating the Local Wages calculator (thanks to Bo@YanboSolutions.com), utilizing the formula devised by Richard that considers that anyone who works a 40-hour hour week should be able to afford the most basic of housing – indexed on
housing costs and more wherever that work is done. HtH Boots on the Ground continued to reach into camps and where we could find folks trying to survive.

2019, 2022.

HTH Statues dedicated! After a few years of raising funds, HtH placed life size bronze Homecoming Statues at Community First! Village in Austin, Texas (2019) and at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. (2022). The three piece statues stand as a memorial to the men, women, and children who die while homeless locally and across the United States. Designed by Richard R. Troxell and sculptured by artist Timothy P. Schmulz.

2020

– Not stopped by COVID, the 16th annual House the Homeless HUGSS Thermal distribution, occurred on New Year’s Eve with three entities set up to for their regular Thursday meal ministry: Central Presbyterian Church, Angel House, and Sunrise Church. Volunteers and staff from First Baptist Austin helped to fill nearly 400 new back packs with HUGSS purchased with donations to House the Homeless. HUGSS includes hats, under-thermals, gloves, scarves, socks – plus safety whistle, flashlights, poncho, bus passes and more! (In 2021, the event returned to First Baptist Church Austin).

– Also in 2020, Caritas, led by Jo Kathryn Quinn, Executive Director, presented our annual Homeless Memorial Service virtually. This followed Caritas’ coordination of the Memorial when Richard first moved from Austin in 2019.

2019

– Richard R. Troxell moved into a voting Board member role of National Education Director (NED) and as HtH’s representative to the National Coalition for the Homeless. Knowing that half of the homeless can work and half are disabled, Richard is actively promoting Livable Incomes: Universal Living Wages and changes in Social Security Disability Benefits. He and his wife, Sylvia, are now based in North Carolina nearer their daughter and young grandson. Richard continues to drive action in Austin and nationally through HtH and the National Homeless Coalition.

– We again engaged many in our “Days of Action” encouraging housing and livable incomes. Richard has for many years led our Tax Day action, replicating same at post offices around the nation. House the Homeless has historically incentivized participation nationally by contributing a camera, and in return, participants would return photos to us. P.J. Liles and Will Hyatt led our “Bridge the Economic Gap” action around Labor Day, ensuring a voice by those experiencing homelessness and displaying our banner over the 12th Street bridge, pointing to www.UniversalLivingWage.org. Other activities include Marching for Peace on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and with Veterans for Peace on Veterans’ Day.

– For the 25th year, HtH updated and printed a laminated, folded Plastic Pocket Resource Guide (18 printings with 10,000 distributed each time), thanks to sponsors, such as City of Austin Parks and Recreation, Austin/Travis County Integral Care, and others.

2015

– Designers, volunteering through Leap to Success, gave HtH a world class, interactive website: www.UniversalLivingWage.org.

– New House the Homeless Logo that includes the world’s cutest dog who promises to love our people unconditionally.

– Using art and education to humanize individuals experiencing homelessness, Timothy P. Schmalz –world renowned bronze sculptor, began sculpting The Home Coming statues in miniature – 250 purchased to leverage donations for the three-piece life size statues.

2013

– Mobile Loaves and Fishes got the final go-ahead for the RV Park that creates an entire community for our disabled homeless citizens. HTH is proud and honored to have played a small role -helping get those good folks the disability benefits for the next six years, to enable them to live there.

– HTH led the nation with our White Paper on the Prevention of Homelessness – a game-changing document, mailed to all members of the U.S. Congress, all 50 governors, select cabinet members, President Obama, and Mrs. Obama; then raised funds to mail to many mayors.

– Richard studied under sculptor Steve DuBois and sculpted “The Home Coming.” Subsequently, two world-renowned sculptors, seeing the sculpture story in the Austin American Statesman, have contacted us and offered their skills to sculpt our concept into full life-size statues … at reduced costs. This is separate and apart from all of our other programs.

2008-2009

• Launched the release of a “Know Your Rights” guide prepared by Legal Aid for the Homeless (R. Troxell) and Texas C-Bar (both programs of TRLA) regarding laws affecting the homeless. Continuing wide-spread distribution throughout Austin Metropolitan Area.
• Provided targeted financial assistance to homeless and working poor persons for identification documents (birth certificates, etc.) necessary to access social services; for mobility-impaired bus passes; and for other critical needs.
• Initiated a collaboration with the Community Action Network, TX Homeless Network, Mobile Loaves and Fishes and Ending Community Homelessness Organization, for Troxell’s HtH-sponsored “Let’s Get to Work” Forum and Initiative creating a living wage work program (May 2009). It brought together three “Best Practices” groups, including Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, and a panel of local experts already doing employment programs and ready to create a “Pathway” for people experiencing homelessness whereby they would emerge as a workforce earning living wages.
• Let’s get to Work secured support of Austin Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Austin Alliance, Seton Family of Hospitals, TX Dept of Child Protective Services and many more.
• Developed and conducted a survey that revealed 90 percent of Austin’s homeless would work a full 40-hour week if it provided them food, clothing and shelter (including utilities); i.e., a living wage. Findings widely distributed

By Richard R. Troxell
President, House the Homeless, Inc.

Because many states and cities are passing and enforcing laws targeting poor and homeless people, and the fact that homeless people are targets of senseless assaults and murder due to their condition of homelessness, House The Homeless feels the need for the adoption of this resolution by City, State, and the United States governments.

HOMELESS PROTECTED CLASS RESOLUTION

Whereas, the United States Government has adopted and is party to the United Nation’s Document referenced as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which ” confers on every member of society a right to basic economic, social, and cultural entitlements, that every (nation) state should recognize, serve, and protect, of which food, clothing, medical care, and housing are definitive components of the right to a minimum standard of living and dignity,” and

Whereas, the United States Government has adopted, and is party to the United Nation’s Document; the Habitat Agenda, which calls for certain actions that include but are not limited to: protection against discrimination, legal security of tenure and equal access to land including women and the poor; effective protection from illegal forced evictions, taking human rights into consideration, bearing in mind that homeless people should not be penalized for their status; by adopting policies aimed at making housing habitable, affordable and accessible, including those who are unable to secure adequate housing through their own means, and

Whereas, the United Nations Document: Habitat Agenda, calls for the “Effective monitoring and evaluation of housing conditions, including the extent of homelessness and inadequate housing policies and implementing effective strategies and plans to address those problems,” and

Whereas, there is a shortage of affordable housing stock nationwide, and

Whereas, the national minimum wage is an insufficient amount of money to secure safe, decent, affordable housing even at the most basic financial level, and

Whereas, more than the minimum wage is required in every state to be able to afford a one bedroom apartment at Fair Market Rent, as set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD, and

Whereas, the combined effect of these and other circumstances create a group of people that have no alternatives to living on the streets of our nation, and

Whereas, it is estimated that nationwide, there are at least 760,000 persons living without a permanent, fixed, individual residence on any given night, and

Whereas, at least 28% of our nations’ homeless are United States Veterans, and

Whereas, approximately 25% of the single adult homeless population suffers from some form of mental illness, and

Whereas, the fastest growing segment of the population is women with children, and

Whereas, 36.5 million men, women and children of all ages are living in poverty (many of whom are already homeless), and

Whereas, there has been a collective, concerted effort at city and county levels to devise laws and ordinances that find homeless people guilty of having committed a crime for simple acts such as sitting, lying down, sleeping in public, or even in their own cars and

Whereas, there are certain life sustaining acts such as eating, breathing and sleeping that must be conducted by all persons including those that are homeless who must conduct these acts in public, and

Whereas, these laws and ordinances are designed to criminalize and sweep these homeless persons form our nations’ streets and imprison them, without regard for their personal safety or care for their personal belongings, for no reason other than they are lacking housing and as a result, are characterized as non-citizens, and are deprived of their human rights, and

Whereas, these impoverished persons are targeted and often made victims of malicious hate crimes and selective enforcement of these laws and ordinances, and

Whereas, camping, sleeping, sitting, lying and other anti-homeless laws including those that restrict the feeding of people who are hungry, are being enforced at a time when emergency housing shelters are consistently full and no housing alternatives remain available, and wages paid are wholly inadequate to afford people the basics of life: food, clothing and shelter, and

Whereas, the enforcement of such laws under such circumstances constitute cruel and unusual punishment and impinge upon these persons access to travel,

THERFORE, BE IT RESOLVED: That persons without a fixed, permanent, individual place of residence, and those that are earning 100% of Federal Poverty Guidelines or less, are sufficient in number characteristics, and vulnerability to compromise a distinct class of people, and as a result, shall hence forth constitute a Protected Class with all rights and protections under such a designation. Herein after, this Protected Class, will be referred to as the Indigent Homeless Population.

AND FURTHER, BE IT RESOLVED, that as a Protected Class they will be protected:

From laws against sleeping, sitting, lying down in public,

From laws that restrict them from being provided food,

From acts or laws interfering with their right to travel,

From wages that are so low that they are denied access to housing,

From laws or practices that disregard their rights of ownership, and protections for their personal belongings,

From being made targets of hate crimes, and

From being characterized and treated as non citizens.

From being denied employment due to one’s homeless or formerly homeless status.

From laws or practices that discriminate against people and deny them any type of housing based on their present or past condition of homelessness.

Please sign up here to show your support for the Homeless Protected Class Resolution!

Signing up will also subscribe you to the HtH free monthly e-newsletter. If you’re already on our email list, you can update your contact info, but don’t worry, you will never be sent duplicate emails.

Thank you for your continued support!

Or, please send a check payable to House the Homeless, Inc to:

House the Homeless
P.O. Box 2312
Austin, TX 78768

Thank you for your never ending support for the folks living on our streets.

Together we can end homelessness.

Richard Troxell

House the Homeless, Inc., founded in 1989, is the oldest, all volunteer, action organization in Texas working to prevent and end homelessness. Our mission is education and advocacy around issues of homelessness. Our goal is prevention and doable solutions, including how to end to economic homelessness here and across the nation. HtH considers all homeless and formerly homeless individuals to be members of this 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit corporation. We strive to ensure that the makeup of our Board of Directors generally not fall below 50% of individuals who were formerly homeless or are currently experiencing homelessness.

House the Homeless, Inc. is pleased to announce Will Hyatt as our new Board President. Elected at the recent Annual Meeting, Will moves into this leadership role after serving as Vice President. A longtime advocate and active member of HtH, Will brings deep commitment, lived experience awareness, and a strong vision for housing justice. We’re excited for his leadership in guiding our mission forward .

Pastor Will, as he is known, is actively meeting with City Council members and others. Following is an update from David Gray, the City’s Homeless Strategy Officer– a man with a heart for those experiencing homelessness. HtH continues to advocate for all being displaced, for their belongings to be retained, and more, as well as City budgeting of adequate housing resources.

Austin Homeless Strategy Update:
David Gray, Homeless Strategy Officer, City of Austin

Encampment Transitions (Mid-Year)

– 28 individuals recently transitioned from a high-risk Country Club Creek encampment into shelters such as Northbridge, Southbridge, and the Marshalling Yard.
– In the past year, four camps—Barton Creek Greenbelt, Williamson Creek East, Indian Grass Prairie, and North Walnut Creek—were cleared, relocating 63 people into indoor settings.
– Since June 2021, nearly 1,024 individuals have been moved from unsafe camps into shelters through the HEAL Initiative.

Point-In-Time (PIT) Count

– 2025 PIT Count (Jan 25–26): 3,238 people counted in Austin–Travis County—1,661 sheltered and 1,577 unsheltered, marking the first time more individuals are counted as sheltered than those found to be unsheltered.
– 2024 HUD estimate: Approximately 2,975 individuals experiencing homelessness in Greater Austin—this includes both unsheltered individuals counted by volunteers and sheltered residents documented through emergency shelters, transitional housing, and safe havens.

Bronze Statues

Introducing the Home Coming Characters

View the photos of the final clay sculptures from which the bronze was cast.

The Home Coming

Figures coming to life in the gifted hands of Timothy P. Schmalz

About

House the Homeless, Inc., founded in 1989, is the oldest, all volunteer, action organization in Texas working to prevent and end homelessness. Our mission is education and advocacy around issues of homelessness. Our goal is prevention and doable solutions, including how to end to economic homelessness here and across the nation. HtH considers all homeless and formerly homeless individuals to be members of this 501.c.3 tax-exempt non-profit corporation. We strive to ensure that the makeup of our Board of Directors generally not fall below 60% of individuals who were formerly homeless or are currently experiencing homelessness.

Learn more about our Education and Advocacy

Universal Living Wage – ULW (National Locality Wage – NLW)

In 1997, Richard R. Troxell created a unique formula that fixes the Federal Minimum Wage. Using existing government guidelines, a three pronged formula was devised that ensures that a person who works 40 hours in a week (be it from one job or more), will be able to afford basic food, clothing, and shelter (utilities included) wherever that work is done throughout the United States.

In April 2001, the Universal Living Wage – ULW (National Locality Wage – NLW) Campaign was launched and simultaneously went on line at www.UniversalLivingWage.org Note. Universal Living Wage – ULW (National Locality Wage – NLW) is a committee of House the Homeless, Inc. In total, 43,000 letters were sent to Unions, Faith Based Organizations, Non-Profits and Businesses. This created a data base of endorsing entities.

Also in 2001, we held our 1st National Day of Action. We gathered at US Post Offices in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.  Supporting the actions, the campaign raises funds and distributes 4’by 10’ banners and red and white yard signs both directing people to the Universal Living Wage website and the campaign.

We later created a second National Day of Action: Bridge the Economic Gap Day. We get on the bridges of America with slightly different banners (which the campaign again supplies) with participants on at least one bridge in every state in the union. We again direct people to the Universal Living Wage Website and Campaign.

In October 2010, we released the book, Looking Up at the Bottom Line…The Struggle for the Living Wage.  Copies were sent to every member of Congress.

In 2013, HtH produced a White Paper: Preventing Homelessness at its Core; Living Wages, Livable Incomes and Discharge No one into Homelessness.

In 2014, HtH is updating and re-issuing the White Paper with a 10 year phase in plan for a National Living Wage.  The intention is to send it to all 1400 Mayors with a Resolution enabling them to petition the US Congress to fix the Federal Minimum Wage by indexing it to the local cost of housing (the single most expensive item in the budget of every American).