In 1864 he moved to Paris and joined the private studios of Henri Lemaire of Valenciennes and François Jouffroy of Dijon.

In 1866 he was admitted to the sculpture section of the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Early in 1894 he was appointed professor of modeling the National Manufacture of Sèvres, a position he held until his death in 1919.

[1] On 17 January 1794 Houssin participated in a conference followed by a banquet hosted by Charles Bodinier at the Théâtre d'Application in honor of the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore in the company of along with Paul Verlaine, Émile Gallé, Robert de Montesquiou and other personalities of the art world.

In 1895 Fernand Lefranc wrote in La Revue du Nord, "His busts, all of impeccable and beautifully executed accuracy cannot be counted."