A Bold Strategy to
End Youth Homelessness
in the District of Columbia
Prepared by the Youth Homelessness Strategy Team
Facilitator: DC Alliance of Youth Advocates
Covenant House DC
Latin American Youth Center
Sasha Bruce Youthwork
StandUp For Kids DC
Wanda Alston Foundation
Washington Interfaith Network
October, 2013
Who are youth that experience homelessness?
Youth that find themselves without a safe or adequate nighttime residence are hidden
amongst us.
They come from all walks of life. They are our neighbors, our students, our athletes, our
artists. They run away from abuse and neglect at home, or they are “thrown away” when
families break down, emotionally or financially. They “couch surf” if they can. Often, they
have children of their own. When their families lose housing, they arrive at shelters with
their siblings and parents. They are a part of our community.
Not knowing their struggles and dreams is no longer an excuse for doing nothing.
What do homeless youth need from adults?
In a word, homeless youth need our commitment: The District should finally stand with
young people and make a commitment to strategies that will end their homelessness and
allow them to thrive—not just scrape by in a closed-door system without supports,
safety, and recognition.
For years, youth have not had this commitment from us. The District has consistently
under-invested in homeless and runaway young people under 25. In fact, last year the
DC government funded just 6% of emergency shelter beds occupied by young teens.
Imagine sleeping through the night with 6% of a blanket.
To keep doors open, service providers are required to stitch together small threads of
federal and private funding sources; because capacity is so low in comparison to demand
for shelter, service providers also have the heartbreaking job of routinely turning youth
away after they ask for help. (In fact, one youth shelter turned away more than 200 youth
from Feb. to May 2013.) What we are preventing, essentially, is prevention.
What happens if we do nothing?
As a result of our ongoing under-investment, more and more youth are being told there
is simply no space at emergency shelters. They are turned onto the streets to fend for
themselves, often falling victim to sexual exploitation and survival crimes.
This fate is unconscionable. It is also cost-ineffective. If we want to prevent adult
homelessness, we need to invest in young people. If we don’t do anything, we
will pay greatly for our inaction.
Our approach needs to change now. That is why a group of experts committed to the
well-being of young people came together to identify a better way forward.
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What is our strategy?
Vision
Collectively, we share a commitment to end youth homelessness in DC by
enhancing upstream prevention efforts and downstream intervention efforts.
We have crafted a detailed plan for Year One, as well as this vision for the next five
years that will be shaped by the data collected, capacities tested, and lessons learned in
the first 365 days.
Values
We stand firm that a data-driven, nimble, multi-faceted, consolidated approach will allow
DC to be a city that thrives in health, education, housing, and other outcomes for
opportunity youth and their families. When met with necessary financial support, official
endorsement, and civic responsibility, this plan can be realized to effectively diminish
youth homelessness in the District of Columbia.
History
This strategy was born out of a multi-month collaboration between experts in all of the
key homeless youth-serving and advocacy-based organizations in DC. We met regularly
to look at local data, analyze nationwide best
practices, and consider opportunities to promote the
welfare of our city’s most vulnerable young people.
National Context
Aspects of this strategy are girded by the National
10-Year Plan from the US Interagency Council on
Homelessness, and the Comprehensive Framework
from the National Network for Youth. These reports
call for culturally competent, coordinated, traumainformed interventions that are targeted to individual
youth based on levels of risk and protection. Goals
are to provide stable housing, increase permanent
connections, improve well-being, and reengage youth
in education and employment.
Components
This strategy develops a robust continuum of care for
youth and young families that begins with data
coordination and analysis through a coordinated intake system, invests in
prevention by allocating funds for family reunification projects to prevent
homelessness, addresses immediate needs by scaling up emergency and transitional
housing, and invests long-term in supports for high-risk youth through lower-cost,
community-driven housing options.
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What does Year One look like?
Innovative Prevention
 Implement evidence-based family reunification projects
 Jumpstart a citywide host-home program
Rapid Intervention
 Increase capacity for emergency shelter and low barrier transitional housing
 Implement a coordinated entry for youth which includes street outreach
 Create two drop-in centers for youth engagement, respite, and referral
 Systematize cultural competency trainings to serve the needs of diverse youth
Evaluation
 Conduct an extended point-in-time study
 Systematically track outcomes, utilization rates, and turn-aways across services
 Adjust emphases and funding levels based on need/capacity gaps
How does Year One Compare to the Same-Old?
Same-Old Approach
Nightly turn-aways at shelters
Too few affordable, long-term rooms
Not enough community involvement
No low-bar, safe space to go for respite
No evidence-based family care
Limited ability to serve diverse youth
Few access points, many closed doors
Community survey is 2.5 years old
Duplicated and incomplete snapshots
Limited contact with youth on streets
After Year One
45 more emergency beds
105 more longer-term beds
20 extended stay host homes for all ages
2 multi-service/agency drop-in centers
Grant-based family reunification projects
Universal cultural competency training
Coordinated entry across providers
New baselines with point-in-time study
Coordinated, youth-centered data system
Nightly street outreach
What will these Year One changes mean?
For at-risk youth and families
 Specially-trained counselors will be able to reunify families in crisis
 Host homes and emergency shelter will provide youth with safe respite until it is okay
to go home
For youth who run away
 The ability to be met with coordinated, wraparound services and placement
 The need to tell one’s story just once
 Services from frontline workers who are adept at welcoming all youth
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For chronically homeless youth and young families
 Access to housing that will grow with youth on their road to independence
 Intervention programs that track outcomes and adjust services accordingly
 Safe daytime spaces to meet basic needs and plan for stronger futures
For the city
 More conscionable treatment of our most vulnerable young people
 Greater savings over time due to reduced burdens on public services
What will this cost?
This cost of a fully-implemented Year One strategy is $10 million dollars (20% to
prevention; 70% to intervention; and 10% to evaluation).
The cost savings are remarkable *
 Homelessness and housing instability are leading factors of disconnectedness in youth
aged 16-24. DC has > 12,000 disconnected youth, > 3,000 of which are homeless.
 At an average annual taxpayer cost of $13,900 (inclusive of lost taxes, additional
healthcare costs, criminal justice, welfare, social services) and spillover cost of $37,450
(inclusive of lost earnings/productivity, extra civic services, education costs), DC’s
disconnected youth population costs taxpayers $167M and society $449M every year.
 To house a youth overnight is $80-160 in emergency shelter, $80-110 in transitional
individual or family housing, and <$60 in a host home. These costs pale against
$1,000 overnight in a psych hospital, $240 in detention, and $165 in foster care.
 All told, if we were to meet housing needs averaging $95/night for every
DC homeless youth for one year—which already overestimates the
demand—we easily would save DC a total tax and social burden of $50M.
* Sources: http://bit.ly/1aXeQvm
Are we ready to act?
If we expect brighter futures tomorrow, this bold plan must be acted on today.
Our asks
 City officials: Invest in a long-range vision developed by experts with decades of
experience working with homeless youth in DC. Start by taking the first
implementation steps. Invest fully in year one and allow data collection to inform your
commitment to the full realization of a five-year strategy. Finally, give providers the
ability and autonomy to carry out this plan, evaluate it, and make improvements
along the way.
 Concerned adults: Keep homeless youth in mind when you go to the polls and
when you tuck your own kids into bed at night. Tell your friends, family, and
councilmembers why this issue matters to you. Open your hearts and doors.
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