As the executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, Philip Mangano is the nation's homelessness czar. On Thursday, he came to the Triangle to see how the area's first Project Homeless Connect went in Orange, Durham and Wake counties. He talked to News & Observer reporter Eric Ferreri.

Q: What's the idea behind this national initiative?

A: "The idea is to find the innovative ideas that are working in our country. We have 20 years of knowing what doesn't work. Now let's find what does work. Sometimes it's just the welcome, the hospitality extended ... What you did today, you welcomed people into the center of your communities. In a park, where probably at some point in the past police once rousted homeless people, they're welcomed in. Not only are they welcomed in verbally, they're welcomed in with a wide variety of resources."

Q: What did you observe here in Durham and Raleigh today?

A: "You're creating a living room in your community. ... You're inviting people to drop by that living room and get what they need. It's just taking what would happen in any living room in Raleigh and expanding it."

Q: How do you harness good will from a one-day event?

A: "We've been looking for the best practices in terms of sustaining the momentum. The notion is, No. 1, to do these more often. No. 2, to ensure that the agencies represented at the Project Homeless Connect will do the necessary follow-up with the people they were serving today."

Q: So that's the government's role? What is a homeless person's role in capturing this momentum?

A: "What we're learning is what they want. What you learn, they never ask for a pill, a program or a protocol which is generally, metaphorically what we've offered. They ask for one thing -- a place to live."

Q: Do you have a relative sense of the Triangle's homelessness problem? Where does it rank?

A: "I'd say Raleigh/Wake fits right in the middle. ... When I think of other cities your size, Portland, Oregon, or Minneapolis, you have fewer [homeless] people. You've already done a better job. Your safety net seems a little bit tighter."