A typical court proceeding is not what takes place in a small courtroom in downtown Houston on Wednesday afternoons.
Although they are not referred to as defendants, the individuals who come here are facing minor criminal offenses. They are referred to as clients instead. Their heads are not bowed in shame as they depart. Rather, they leave grinning. Instead of reprimanding, Judge Imelda Castillo offers congratulations.
And the guy who does a roll call to start the court? Scot More is a community resource manager for the nonprofit Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County, not a uniformed police officer.
More, 61, oversees the homeless court program in the city of Houston, which assists homeless individuals in resolving minor criminal charges that may hinder their ability to reestablish their life. On a Wednesday afternoon in mid-November, More was there, speaking to a group of roughly a dozen clients in a municipal courthouse with wood paneling. He was wearing a red shirt and red sneakers.
More told the dozen or so customers gathered in the courtroom, “This is the city’s way, the Coalition’s way, and your provider’s way of saying we know how hard it is for you to get out of your situation.” You will leave this place with no debt to anyone.
A murmur spread through the room at what he said.
A man leaned forward in his chair and said, “Thank you.”
“No, thank you,” said More. You all put forth the effort.
Since its inception in 2006, Houston’s homeless court has been run by More. He has witnessed more than 2,700 people come through its doors in almost 20 years. The program rewards participants for working with service providers to alleviate the issues that led them to homelessness, often drug addiction, mental illness or domestic violence, by resolving charges at no cost to the client.
According to data from the Coalition for the Homeless, Houston’s homeless court has been successful, with minimal recidivism rates and the vast majority of participants only ever participating once. And it might grow shortly. It currently only works in Houston municipal courts, but as early as next year, Harris County’s district attorney-elect, Sean Teare, intends to change that.
In an interview with the Landing, he stated, “I completely support it.” I want (an expansion) to happen, I think it s overdue and I think it is a benefit to the community as a whole.
That, More said, would be of tremendous help to Harris County s unhoused population.
We can t save the entire world all at once, he said. But you can just focus on the person that s in front of you.
More optimistic than ever before
Joshua Teran Jr. was living on the streets in midtown Houston in May when officers with the Houston Police Department issued him nine low-level misdemeanor charges.
Among Teran s offenses? Sitting on a blanket on the sidewalk and possessing a shopping cart.
Teran, 48, said he might have been able to pay his fines eventually on a payment plan. But it would have been tough. The charges left him with a lot of stress, he said.
Advocates with the nonprofit Harmony House stepped in. They directed him to homeless court, where Teran saw all his charges resolved on Nov. 20. Now, Teran expects to be ordained as a minister and looks forward to attending seminary school.
Are you in a better place? Judge Imelda Castillo asked him in court.
I m more optimistic than ever before, Teran told her.
Houston s homeless court is modeled after an original program from San Diego, California and is now one of more than 70 such programs nationwide.
The objective, More said, was to alleviate barriers to restabilization and in particular, obstacles to obtaining valid identification.
The number one barrier in servicing (homeless) clients is that in the state of Texas, if you owe any money, fines or fees to any court, or if you have a warrant or outstanding tickets, you cannot renew your driver s license or obtain an ID, said More.
That s a problem, advocates said, because valid identification is a prerequisite to obtain work and housing in Texas.
Homeless court is very special because it helps either dismiss or waive the fines and fees and clear up the tickets that could be preventing this person from getting an ID, said Stephanie Marrone, managing attorney for Beacon Law, a nonprofit that provides legal support to unhoused Houstonians.
The vast majority of homeless court participants, 81 percent, are people of color, with 84 percent reporting a disabling condition and 32 percent experiencing domestic violence, according to data provided by Coalition for the Homeless. Yet not just anyone can join to participate, individuals must be referred by a social worker or case worker associated with one of Houston sdozens of programsthat serve the homeless.
Similarly, homeless court addresses only Class C misdemeanors, the lowest possible type of criminal charge, punishable only by fine. The most common charges More sees in homeless court are fare evasion on Houston s METRORail and a lack of car insurance, both of which can snowball into onerous debt.
It s $1.25 to (ride) the rail, More said. If you don t pay that, the ticket s $75. If you don t pay that, it goes up to $250. If you don t show up to court, they throw a warrant. That s another $250. So for not having $1.25, they owe $500. None of our clients would be able to pay that.
That s why a traditional, punishment-based approach to criminal charges against the homeless is counterproductive, said Steve Binder, a special advisor to the American Bar Association s Commission on Homelessness and Poverty and co-founder of the San Diego homeless court.
If they can t afford a place to live, they can t afford to pay a fine, Binder said. It s too easy to get a conviction and to mete out punishment for a person who s homeless and fail to address the problem and really meet everyone s desire for a healthy individual and a healthy society.
Homeless court addresses that problem by rewarding participants for their work with service providers to address the issues that led them to homelessness. In 2023 alone, the program helped participants resolve $138,000 in outstanding fines.
The (homeless) court is essentially compounding the value of those service agencies when it works with them and recognizes the hard-won skills and accomplishments individuals have done in program activity, Binder said. Which for us might seem very simple, but for someone who s been on the streets is very challenging to come by.
Homeless court to expand
Currently, only the Houston municipal courts operate a homeless court. Their counterparts at the county level the justice of the peace courts do not.
That means that only individuals charged by the Houston Police Department or the METRO Police Department can participate in the program. Those charged by other agencies, like local constables or the Harris County Sheriff s Office, see their charges route into the county courts and face steeper barriers to restabilization.
The timeline in terms of resolution is a lot longer and there are a lot more pitfalls our clients can fall into, said Marrone about cases heard in county courts.
That could soon change, however. One justice of the peace,Steve Duble, whose precinct encompasses much of the city of Houston, has already implemented an informal version of the program in his courtroom in which he resolves charges for clients referred by pro bono attorneys. And Sean Teare, Harris County s district-attorney elect, said his transition team has already been in talks with service providers about launching the program county-wide.
Ideally it (will happen) in the first half of 2025, but it will be next year that we at least have an iteration of the program stood up, said Teare. I want something like that in order to ensure that we re treating our unhoused population appropriately while still maintaining a city and a county.
More is optimistic about the difference that could make for Harris County s homeless.
Every single time I go to a docket, I feel more energized to help others and to make it a positive experience for them, More said. I never get tired of this.
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