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County outlines youth homelessness projects funded by $3.6 million YHDP grant
Summary
Housing and Community Action Office staff reviewed progress funded by a 2021 Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project award, including expanded eligibility, new host-home and joint housing projects, a youth front-door assessment and a youth point-in-time count on Jan. 30.
Kirsten London, program services coordinator in the Lane County Housing and Community Action Office, gave the executive committee an update on the county’s Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project (YHDP) activities on Jan. 16, saying the county was awarded $3.6 million in fall 2021 to support a five-year coordinated community plan.
The YHDP-funded projects include joint transitional housing/rapid-rehousing pilots, a host-home project and outreach teams focused on youth and young adults, and an advisory council of young people with lived experience that must approve project changes. London said the grant allowed Lane County to expand the upper age of eligibility from 22 to 24 and to expand the definitional reach of homelessness, notably including those at imminent risk of losing housing (within two weeks).
Why this matters: youth-focused HUD flexibility allowed Lane County to broaden eligibility and test multiple project models intended to prevent exits from education, connect youth to services and increase placement options across rural and metro parts of the county.
Key program details from London’s remarks and questions from committee members: - Award and plan: A $3.6 million YHDP award (awarded in fall 2021) funded a five-year coordinated community plan with six goals and 33 action steps. - Projects: County-funded activities include two joint transitional housing/rapid-rehousing projects (described as first-of-their-kind for the county), a host-home program, outreach aimed at rural areas and expanded front-door assessors including staff embedded at Lane Community College. - Eligibility and assessment: The county expanded age eligibility to 24 and added an imminent-risk category (within two weeks of losing housing). Staff are developing a youth-specific front-door assessment tool and a conversion mechanism to place youth scores onto the adult centralized waitlist when appropriate. - Data and operations: The county has increased data tracking, conducts biweekly case conferencing to match young people from a centralized waitlist to projects, and is focusing 2025 work on workforce development for youth clients. - Point-in-time count: London said the county plans a youth-specific point-in-time count on Jan. 30, 2025, with a resource fair and outreach to rural areas.
Committee members thanked London for expanding the eligibility and noted the connection between housing stability and mental health recovery. London said HUD’s youth-program flexibility was a major factor enabling these changes.
Ending: London encouraged providers and partners to use the county’s coordinated entry and the youth advisory processes and offered to discuss individual client situations outside the meeting.
