Richard R. Troxell

Richard R. Troxell

Founder/Past President

Current National Education Director

House the Homeless Inc.

National Chairman

Universal Living Wage

Promotor Livable Incomes

National Coalition for the Homeless

After serving honorably as a U.S. Marine 1969-1972, Vietnam 1970-1971, Richard has

has been striving to end homelessness since he first saw it come into existence as a mortgage foreclosure preventionist in Philadelphia in the 1980s.

He was the creator and Director of Legal Aid for the Homeless where he had daily interaction with the disabled homeless citizens of Austin, Texas for 35 years. He is the Past President and Founder of House the Homeless, Inc. (HtH), which he established in 1989. HtH is comprised of homeless and formerly homeless citizens struggling to protect their civil rights and find solutions that will end and prevent homelessness in their lifetime. To this day, he serves as the National Education Director, NED for HtH.

His work has been recognized by the Pennsylvania Senate, the Philadelphia Bar Association, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, La Salle University, former Texas Governor-Ann Richards, and the United Nations during the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless. He has received the National Jefferson Service Award and been honored by the Texas Civil Rights Commission. He has also received the Five Who Care Award, the JC Penny Golden Rule Award, and the TX Homeless Network, among many others.

Having designed a paradigm change for homeless service delivery, he secured a $100,000 grant from former Texas Governor George Bush for the jobs component of Project Fresh Start. This became the basis of the Caritas Re-Entry program and the premier case management blue print for homeless citizens in the City of Austin used today.

He created Jobs Plus which is now been taken over by Front Steps and provides the economic basis for homeless people transitioning out of homelessness. Providing first and last month’s rent and rental deposit.

He created the “Blue Grey Task Force” which proposed the use of retired police officers to solve “cold cases.”

He created the Mobile Mini Police Station designed as an emergency impact mobile police station created to quickly establish a “beach-head” in areas of the city where violence (usually gang in nature) has occurred. The First of these police-equipped way stations was funded by Senator John Heinz. Rather than create mini-police stations that have limited range and drain police/city budgets this program stretches scarce resources. Now in multiple cities.

He continues to press municipalities to place federal government SWAT give-a-ways, into local budgets and charge the municipalities $1.00 so all related questions are discussed in public.

He created The Philadelphia Stabilization Plan designed to first stabilize abandoned housing stock in Philadelphia and created a mechanism for banks to bring them back into the market.

Currently, he sits on the Board of the National Coalition for the Homeless and since 1997. A former member of the Executive Committee, he served as the Coordinator of the Livable Incomes Committee and now sits on the Core Committee promoting Livable Incomes in the new national initiative to Bring America Home Now! His work is culminating in his drive to “fix the Federal Minimum Wage” as the National Chairman of the Universal Living Wage Campaign, ensuring that a person working 40 hours in a week will be able to afford basic food, clothing, phone, basic rental housing (utilities included) and public transportation, no matter where that work is done throughout the U.S. He has also devised a way to use his national formula to fix the national Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. This ensures that those that can work receive a Universal Living Wage (which is the Federal Minimum Wage indexed to the local cost of housing) and those that can’t work receive SSI that affords them both housing. This will end and prevent economic homelessness for over 20 million people.

Richard also served as the TX Civil Rights Coordinator for the National Coalition for the Homeless.

As a social engineer and with his B.A. in sociology from St. Edward’s University where he graduated with honors. Richard has created scores of programs to address dozens of social problems. He has written the Homeless Protected Class Resolution. He devised and pressed for legislation to be introduced in the Texas Legislature to prevent Hate Crimes against people experiencing homelessness. He published the book, Looking Up at the Bottom Line: The Struggle for the Living Wage. He authored the booklet “Striking A Balance” while in Leadership Austin program that identified and offered solutions to gentrification of East Austin BEFORE it took place.

He created the concept behind The Home Coming statue. In collaboration with Timothy P. Schmalz (heralded as the Michelangelo of our times), they sculpted the characters over a four-year period on the phone. One statue has been gifted and installed at Community First Village! in Austin, TX. A second statue has been offered to the Catholic Church for the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. and accepted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Installment and unveiling tentatively scheduled to occur in 2022.

Richard’s latest book, Short Stories in a Long Journey: What it Takes to End and Prevent Homelessness, identifies and illuminates numerous concepts designed to end and prevent homelessness.