Six Months After the Launch of Solid Foundations DC

Six months after the release of Solid Foundations DC: Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Youth Homelessness, we’re taking a brief dive into how the plan is progressing for National Homeless Youth Awareness Month.

In 2016, Youth Count DC, DC’s annual census of youth experiencing homelessness in DC, revealed 537 Transition Age Youth experiencing homelessness or housing instability. To address the issue of so many young people lacking access to safe and stable housing, DC’s Interagency Council on Homelessness drafted and adopted Solid Foundations DC: Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Youth Homelessness.

Solid Foundations lays out a plan to increase prevention and stabilization services as well as the number of beds in Youth Shelters and Transitional Housing. Solid Foundations also recommends the increase of Permanent Supportive Housing options and Rapid Rehousing options for Transition Age Youth. The prediction of Solid Foundations is that these efforts will result in the System Conversion below:

Through the work of advocates, program providers, youth, and Council, we were able to fund most of the recommendations Solid Foundations makes for Year 1. Over the summer and into the fall, the Department of Human Services (“DHS”) released Requests for Applications to increase efforts in Youth Street Outreach and to increase the number of Youth Shelter Beds and Transitional Housing Beds. DHS also released Requests for Applications for new programs, such as Homeless Youth Rapid Rehousing and Youth Stabilization Programs. The proposal process is still on-going for some of the programs, and we welcome new grantees into DC’s youth homelessness space. We’ll also have more updates and data on successes as Year 1 progresses.

In addition to these programs developed or enhanced under Solid Foundations, DHS has created a new program called Strengthening Teens Enriching Parents (“STEP”) to address the issue of runaway and missing youth. Through collaboration of multiple DC agencies, STEP focuses on strengthening families once youth are brought back home.

We are off to a good start in Year 1 of Solid Foundations. However, we have a long way to go to prevent and end youth homelessness by 2022. To that end, DCAYA will push for the funding of Year 2 of Solid Foundations. Also, we’ll explore Year 1 data to reveal successes and possible challenges going into Year 2. Further, we’ll look into other policy areas that may affect the lives of DC’s youth experiencing homelessness and housing instability.

We’ll be sure to reach out when it’s time to testify so that we can continue to improve the lives of DC youth.