Chief Strategy Officer, Housing Forward

Peña Search; Dallas (TX); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Housing Forward, the lead agency for the All Neighbors Coalition in Dallas and Collin counties, seeks a strategic, collaborative Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) to guide the regional homeless response system into its next chapter.

The CSO will shape strategy, lead communitywide planning, align public and private investments, and work with the Executive Leadership Team to improve performance and outcomes across partners and systems.

Qualifications

• Experience leading strategic planning for complex regional systems.
• Ability to influence and build trusted relationships across partners.
• Experience aligning public and private investments.
• Strong data management & reporting capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Lead communitywide strategic planning and annual priority-setting.
• Oversee systemwide performance monitoring and accountability and promote continuous improvement.
• Drive system improvement initiatives and cross‑sector collaboration across partners.
• Partner with the Chief Operations Officer to translate communitywide strategy into operational execution.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Cross-sector collaboration

Stakeholder engagement

Data management & reporting

System planning

Change management

Executive leadership

Job description

Housing Forward is the backbone organization leading one of the nation's most innovative and successful homeless response systems. Through the All Neighbors Coalition, Housing Forward aligns more than 150 public, private, and nonprofit partners to build a coordinated, data-driven system that resolves homelessness across Dallas and Collin Counties. Since 2021, the community has achieved five consecutive years of reductions in homelessness while Housing Forward has grown into a high-performing lead agency driving system strategy, performance management, and cross-sector collaboration. Governed by a 16-member board of directors and staffed by 45 full‑time team members, Housing Forward has an annual budget of approximately $45 million.

Housing Forward is entering its next chapter by implementing bold strategies to ensure no adult, young person, family, or veteran is forced to sleep outside. The organization seeks strategic leaders who thrive in complex environments, build alignment across diverse stakeholders, and embrace a culture of continuous learning, collaboration, and innovation to drive system improvement, at a pivotal moment in its trajectory.

Housing Forward is the federally designated lead agency for the 150+ member All Neighbors Coalition working collaboratively to solve homelessness in Dallas and Collin counties. The All Neighbors Coalition brings together service providers; cross-system partners including behavioral health, criminal justice, and workforce development; and local government, business, and funders to lead homelessness response in Dallas and Collin counties. Since 2021, All Neighbors has strategically expanded system capacity, resulting in the following outcomes:

• Supported 25,498 individuals to permanently exit homelessness, with 93% not returning to homelessness;
• Five consecutive years of homeless count reductions, with a 23% decrease in overall homelessness and a 25% decrease in street homelessness since 2021; and
• Developed a new operational model that brings together coordinated outreach, right‑sized exit pathways, and mental health & law enforcement partners to alleviate downtown homelessness that is planned to be scaled across Dallas County. This model permanently closed all downtown encampments and reduced daily street counts by 80+%.

The Opportunity

Building upon this record of progress, Housing Forward is entering a pivotal next chapter in the evolution of the regional homeless response system. The organization seeks a strategic, collaborative, and highly effective Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) to help shape and lead that next chapter, strengthening an already high‑performing system while advancing the ambitious work still ahead. Housing Forward’s success has also brought significant growth and increasing complexity. As the organization has expanded its role in aligning public and private resources and providing the strategic and administrative infrastructure for the homeless response system, its budget and responsibilities have grown rapidly. In response, Housing Forward is evolving its executive leadership structure to provide greater focus to two equally critical areas: the internal operational excellence necessary to support a growing organization and the external, system‑level strategy necessary to continue improving the region’s response to homelessness.

The newly created Chief Strategy Officer will provide leadership for the latter. Reporting to the President and CEO and serving as a member of the Executive Leadership Team, the CSO will work with the All Neighbors Coalition to shape the strategic direction of the regional homeless response system. The CSO will lead communitywide planning and priority‑setting, align public and private investments, anticipate emerging needs and opportunities, and oversee the development and implementation of strategies designed to continuously improve system performance and outcomes.

Central to the CSO’s success will be the ability to lead through influence rather than authority. The CSO will work closely with CEOs and senior leaders of service provider organizations and with partners across behavioral health, criminal justice, workforce development, public health, and other systems that intersect with homelessness. These organizations bring their own missions, priorities, perspectives, and expertise to the work. The CSO must be able to build trusted relationships among them, facilitate productive dialogue, and create alignment around a shared vision and collective priorities—helping partners recognize that their greatest impact can be achieved through a coordinated system rather than through individual efforts alone. Working in close partnership with the Chief Operations Officer, the CSO will ensure strong alignment between communitywide strategy and operational execution. Together, the two leaders will identify emerging challenges, performance gaps, and opportunities for improvement and maintain shared accountability for achieving measurable outcomes across the regional homeless response system. Reporting to the President and CEO, the Chief Strategy Officer will serve as Housing Forward’s chief strategist and a member of the Executive Leadership Team. The CSO will oversee the teams responsible for Exit Pathways, Crisis Response, and Data Management & Reporting and will provide strategic leadership for system planning, implementation, performance, and continuous improvement across the All Neighbors Coalition.

Essential Functions & Responsibilities

System Planning

• Lead communitywide strategic planning and annual priority‑setting in partnership with system partners, Boards, and Workgroups.
• Oversee annual systemwide needs, gaps, demand, and modeling analyses to inform strategic decision‑making and priority‑setting.
• Develop coordinated investment strategies that maximize public and private resources and align investments across municipalities within the regional homeless response system.
• Anticipate emerging trends, risks, and opportunities and develop strategic responses that strengthen system performance and position the community to respond effectively to changing needs.

System Implementation and Management

• Provide strategic leadership and direction for the Exit Pathways, Crisis Response, and Data Management & Reporting teams.
• Lead the development and execution of systemwide implementation strategies aligned with annual priorities and organizational goals.
• Oversee systemwide performance monitoring and accountability and promote continuous improvement in the effectiveness and efficiency of the homeless response system.
• Build and strengthen cross-system partnerships and stakeholder engagement to advance regional priorities and a coordinated response to homelessness.
• Ensure excellence in data management and reporting, including compliance with federal and local requirements and the availability of accurate, reliable data to support strategic decision‑making.

System Improvement and Transformation

• Lead the co‑design of system improvement initiatives informed by performance analysis, data, and the expertise of community partners.
• Provide systemwide change‑management leadership and backbone support that enable partners to navigate change, build alignment, and sustain long‑term improvements.
• Foster a culture of innovation, learning, and continuous improvement across the system to strengthen its effectiveness, scalability, and sustainability.
• Challenge partners and stakeholders to think differently about complex problems and help translate innovative and proven approaches into practical system‑level solutions.

Strategic Partnership with the Chief Operations Officer

• Partner closely with the Chief Operations Officer to translate communitywide strategies into effective operational execution.
• Jointly identify emerging system challenges, performance gaps, operational barriers, and opportunities for improvement.
• Collaborate on initiatives designed to eliminate street homelessness, with the CSO providing leadership on strategy, system design, and community alignment and the COO providing leadership on operational execution and implementation.
• Maintain shared accountability for outcomes through strong and consistent alignment between strategy and execution.
• Serve as a member of Housing Forward’s Executive Leadership Team, helping establish organizational vision, strategy, and priorities.
• Exercise a high degree of executive judgment in developing strategic recommendations that advance the missions of Housing Forward and the All Neighbors Coalition.
• Partner with the President and CEO and other members of the Executive Leadership Team to anticipate future opportunities and challenges and ensure Housing Forward has the strategies and capabilities necessary to respond.
• Lead system‑ and organization‑wide initiatives requiring collaboration across departments, service providers, and cross‑sector partners.