Engaging Communities to Dramatically Reduce Homelessness

Read more about the Concepts developed by Dr. Robert Marbut.

Dr. Robert Marbut has consulted with more communities and organizations on issues of homelessness than anyone else in the USA.  He is a disruptor who understands that the status quo approaches have not been working, and there is urgent need to help communities change how they address homelessness in order to successfully reduce homelessness.

Dr. Marbut has worked on issues of homelessness for more than three decades:  first as a volunteer, then as chief of staff to San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros, next as a White House Fellow to President H.W. Bush (41, the Father), later as a San Antonio City Councilperson/ Mayor-Pro-Tem and as the Founding President & CEO of Haven for Hope for five years (the most comprehensive homeless transformational center in the USA). 

He has also worked in 3 different Presidential Administrations, including serving as the Executive Director of the US Interagency Council on Homelessness, often called the “Federal Homelessness Czar.”

In 2007, frustrated by the lack of real improvement in reducing homelessness, and as part of the concept development phase for the Haven for Hope Campus, Dr. Marbut conducted a nationwide best practices study.  After personally visiting 237 homeless service facilities in 12 states and the District of Columbia, he developed The Seven Guiding Principles of Homeless Transformation  which focuses on root causes and recovery, not symptoms nor short term gimmicks.  These Seven Guiding Principles of Transformation are used in all aspects of his work to create holistically transformative environments in order to reduce homelessness. 

Since his national best practices study, Dr. Marbut has visited a total of 1,212 operations and has worked in all 50 states, plus Washington, DC and Mexico, DF.  He has helped hundreds of communities and agencies to dramatically reduce homelessness.

He earned a Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas in International Relations (with an emphasis in international terrorism and Wahhabism), Political Behavior and American Political Institutions/Processes from the Department of Government. 

He also has two Master of Arts degrees, one in Government from The University of Texas at Austin and one in Criminal Justice from the Claremont Graduate University (affiliated with the Peter Drucker School).  His Bachelor of Arts is a Full Triple Major in Economics, Political Science and Psychology (Honors Graduate) from Claremont McKenna (Men's) College.  He also earned an Aviation Technology Level 1 Certificate from Palo Alto College. 


Dr. Marbut also has completed three post-graduate fellowships, one as a White House Fellow (USA's most prestigious program for leadership and public service), one as a CORO Fellow of Public and Urban Affairs in Los Angeles, and one as a TEACH Fellow in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the State of Qatar (1 of 13 USA educators selected).  He was also a member of the Secretary of Defense’s Joint Civilian Orientation Conference 2000 class (JCOC-63) which is DOD’s premier civic leadership program and focused on Special Operations.

Dr. Robert G. Marbut Jr.

We help communities to dramatically reduce homelessness by developing holistic and transformative systems that engage service providers (non-profit, faith-based and government agencies), volunteers, businesses, government and, most importantly, individuals and families that are experiencing homelessness.

Who We Are

Marbut Consulting