Federal Resources

The Choice Neighborhoods initiative will transform distressed neighborhoods and public and assisted projects into viable and sustainable mixed-income neighborhoods by linking housing improvements with appropriate services, schools, public assets, transportation, and access to jobs. A strong emphasis will be placed on local community planning for access to high-quality educational opportunities, including early childhood education. In addition to public housing authorities, the initiative will involve local governments, non-profits, and for-profit developers in undertaking comprehensive local planning with residents and the community.

The Healthy Homes program provides homeowners and rental property owners with practical information about how to prevent health and safety hazards. Specific problems such as asthma, allergies and mold are discussed.

This website provides resources and information related to HUD programs, including newly added partnership-building resources for communities in their efforts to end youth homelessness. This blog post from the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth highlights some of the resources that are useful for advocates and service providers. 

This guidebook series helps Continuum of Care stakeholders and practitioners engage partners in efforts to prevent and end youth homelessness. The series includes three guidebooks, including System Planning, Mainstream System Collaboration, and Promising Program Models.

This report (PDF, 98 pages) provides point-in time estimates of both sheltered and unsheltered homelessness on a single night, as well as estimates of the number of people experiencing homelessness within particular populations and demographics. The report shows that 549,928 people experienced homelessness on a single night in 2016, a decline of 14% since 2010.

This annual report (PDF, 96 pages) provides a snapshot of homelessness, both sheltered and unsheltered, on a single night in late January in the U.S., including estimates for particular populations such as youth. The data show 35,686 unaccompanied homeless youth were counted. Eighty nine percent were between the ages of 18 and 24, and 11% were under the age of 18. There were 9,800 parenting young adults between 18 and 24 years of age, and 92 parents under the age of 18. 

This resource provides specific criteria and benchmarks for ending unaccompanied youth homelessness. Communities can use this resource to reduce the number of unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness and build lasting solutions to respond to future needs. 

These resources provide information and tools on topics related to ending youth homelessness:

1. Coordinated Entry for Youth Brief — Provides an overview of the four core elements of coordinated entry for youth: access, assessment, prioritization, and referral.
2. Engaging Youth in Decision Making — Provides guidance on how to engage youth in project development and governance.
3. Using a Housing First Philosophy When Serving Youth — Provides an overview of housing first philosophy and how it applies to youth-serving projects.
4. Rapid Re-Housing for Youth — Provides a suite of tools and products on rapid re-housing for youth, including a Jump Start Tool, set of frequently asked questions, and a checklist.

USICH hosted a webinar, “Non-Time-Limited Housing for Youth,” on August 13, 2015, which highlighted two models of non-time-limited housing for youth, explaining how those programs were developed and financed, what the programs offer to youth, as well as outcomes and challenges. 

This document aims to improve practices and collaboration among SSA field offices, VA Medical Center staff, organizations and agencies that provide services to people experiencing homelessness, and other community-based partners. The strategies focus on assisting individuals experiencing homelessness with the initial disability application and medical determination process. 

USICH hosted a webinar that highlighted two models of non-time-limited housing for youth, explaining how those programs were developed and financed, what the programs offer to youth, as well as outcomes and challenges. 

This event brought together stakeholders from multiple sectors, as well as youth from diverse backgrounds, to assess progress toward the Opening Doors goal of ending youth homelessness by 2020. 

This fact sheet (PDF, 2 pages) describes the negative impact of family homelessness on children’s health, education, and well-being. It also illustrates current federal investments and initiatives that aim to end family homelessness by lifting households out of poverty and supporting early educational success. 

This resource (PDF, 4 pages) includes questions that can help communities assess their progress toward USICH’s benchmarks for reaching the goal of ending youth homelessness.