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Support Safe, Affordable Housing Options

What Can Policymakers Do?

  • Allow young people to remain in care up to age 21 with continued legal advocacy and permanency planning. Extending care to young people until they turn 21 increases the likelihood that youth will have successful outcomes as adults. [1] An important aspect of extending care is continuing to support youth through various housing options. States should take advantage of the provisions of Fostering Connections and extend supports and services to youth through their transition. The Youth Housing Assistance Program (YHAP) in Illinois provides a range of services to transitioning foster youth who are at high risk of becoming homeless. Young people age 17½ to 21 receive assistance from one of 16 housing advocates across the state, who help youth find housing, develop a budget and connect to community resources and social services. [2] In Rhode Island, young people in care are guaranteed a guardian ad litem or court-appointed special advocate.
  • Provide a variety of living arrangements as options for young people age 18 to 21, including remaining with foster parents, kinship/guardianship placements and independent living, and allow young people to return to foster care or a supervised living setting at any time up to age 21. [3] The Connecticut Department of Children and Families developed a housing continuum that provides adolescents in foster care a broad continuum of housing options. Youth move from highly structured, supervised living situations to a transitional living program where support is provided while structure and restrictions decrease. The housing continuum program also includes services, supports, financial assistance and mandatory life skills training for participants. [4]
  • Provide priority access to safe, affordable housing options. Consistently low percentages of young people who transition out of care have safe, stable and affordable housing (approximately 60 percent). [5] Providing priority access to safe affordable housing options will increase the likelihood that young people transition successfully. California recently passed legislation that requires California's public post-secondary education systems to give priority for on-campus housing to emancipated foster youth. The Foster Youth Priority Housing in College Bill also requires California State University campuses to keep housing facilities open for foster youth during school breaks.

[1] Courtney, M.E., and Dworsky, A. (2005). Midwest evaluation of the adult functioning of former foster youth: Outcomes at age 19. Chicago, IL: Chapin Hall Center for Children.

[2] Issue Brief: State Policies to Help Youth Transition Out of Foster Care. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices. Available online.

[3] Issue Brief: State Policies to Help Youth Transition Out of Foster Care. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices. Available online.

[4] Issue Brief: State Policies to Help Youth Transition Out of Foster Care. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices. Available online.

[5] Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative and The Center for the Study of Social Policy. What We Are Learning About Young People Transitioning From Care. Toolkit for Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative Partners. (St. Louis, Missouri: 2010).

State Example. In Tennessee, legislation was passed to set up the Independent Living Services Oversight Committee, staffed by legislators, child welfare staff and community members. It is tasked with ensuring that services are being delivered in a way that makes sense for young people.
Housing Strategy. The Youth Housing Assistance Program in Illinois uses Chafee dollars to fund their efforts to ensure that youth ages 18 to 21 are receiving both housing and other valuable services.

Housing Funding. In 2010 the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded $20 million to support partnerships between public housing authorities (PHAs) and local child welfare agencies across the country in order to reunite homeless children with their parents and provide affordable housing and support to young people leaving foster care.