Q&A with Kelly King Horne, Homeward's Executive Director

Before joining Homeward, Kelly spent five years working for Habitat for Humanity International. She lived in Budapest, Hungary and was active in Habitat’s efforts to create stable housing in Eastern European and former Soviet countries. She first arrived in Europe with the Peace Corps, where she served for 2.5 years in Moldova.

Beginning with her time in the Peace Corps, Kelly’s work has been connected to a fundamental need we all share – a place to live that is safe and stable.

Her experience and understanding of issues related to homelessness policy and funding has been vital to her work in the Richmond region. An expert in her field, Kelly also recognizes the need to ask questions, be open to new approaches, and listen to those with lived experience of homelessness. Throughout her career, Kelly has focused on a guiding principle – reduce the impact of homelessness for as many people as possible. 

As we celebrate Kelly’s milestones with Homeward, we thought it would be worthwhile to ask her a few questions! 

Q: You've been Homeward's Executive Director for 15 years and at the organization for 20. What's changed about Homeward since you first joined?

A: In looking back, a lot has changed in that time. It’s sometimes difficult to see the change as it’s happening, but it’s clear that Homeward has grown and evolved in those years. One of the most significant, and important, changes was the introduction of housing first as a concept. As an organization, and a region, we adopted the belief that finding permanent housing should be the ultimate goal of our efforts. This decision gave clarity to Homeward’s role in our region’s coordinated network of service providers and has helped us improve the quality of life in the Greater Richmond area. A second notable change is our commitment to shared learning. Emphasizing collaborating and constant learning has become one of Homeward’s hallmarks. Our recent Best Practices Conference is a great example. 

Q: How has the Richmond region's approach to homelessness changed?

A: Similar to Homeward’s evolution, the region has really shifted to a more collaborative and coordinated approach in the past 10 – 15 years. We have leaned into developing a coordinated response among homeless service providers to maximize the limited resources available to serve our most vulnerable neighbors. One thing that hasn’t changed is our region’s grounding in partnerships. From the very beginning, our system has depended on partnerships to succeed. Coordination between service providers, funders, local governments, state government, and others has created a strong and flexible network that centers the needs of individuals and families experiencing homelessness. When I talk with peers from across the country, I’m consistently struck by what makes Richmond’s system stand apart: (1) High quality and compassionate service providers, (2) community funders that align their efforts to maximize impact, (3) the use of data and listening to people with lived experiences to develop programs to address homelessness, and (4) a dedicated planning agency that can take the long view (which is Homeward). 

Q: What's been the biggest challenge over the years?

A: The biggest challenge that Homeward – and the entire homeless services network – has faced is translating the impact of our work to influence broader issues. This challenge was amplified during the pandemic. A bright light was shone on housing instability in our region and it was clear to many of us that a key solution is developing more deeply affordable housing. Our community hasn’t invested in affordable housing in the ways we’ve needed to for at least two decades. It’s been a significant challenge to bring attention to this issue and make the connection between homelessness and affordable housing. If we truly want to reduce the rate of homelessness, we need to build more deeply affordable and permanent supportive housing.