Getting Started with Foster Youth to Independence

Since 2013, the FSHO Coalition, led by ACTION Ohio, has worked in partnership with the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare, elected officials including foster youth champions, and Reps. Turner and Bass, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to study how to knit existing federal programs together to eliminate the gaps through which foster youth fall into homelessness.

The FSHO Coalition discovered that the best way to eliminate gaps is to synchronize existing programs such as HUD’s Family Unification Program (FUP), with the predictable nature of emancipation (the date a young person leaves state custody). HUD leadership agreed and created the Foster Youth to Independence Program to do exactly that. 

First, FYI extends HUD’s Family Unification Program to all non-FUP PHAs, thus extending FUP to youth across the US - an extraordinary shift in American social policy.

FSHO allows all local Public Housing Authorities to provide an “on-demand” FUP voucher that is timed with a young person’s emancipation from foster care.  In this way, existing federal resources can be knitted together and used as a platform for economic success.  

Currently, FYI is available for all PHAs capable of administering Section 8 vouchers.  If your PHA currently administers FUP, the lease rate must be at least 90%.  To find your PHA FUP lease-up rate, visit HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher Dashboard here. Before doing any of this we recommend that PCWAs look at their caseloads to determine and forecast the number of youth that would be eligible and in need of an FYI voucher before reaching out to your PHA.

Here are the steps you can follow to engage your PHA:

  • Complete a (draft letter) from a PCWA to the PHA to schedule a meeting about FYI implementation. Print out a copy of HUD’s FYI notice for yourselves and the PHA. Click here to view the most recent FYI Notice (published October 6, 2020). This letter explains that each agency will have to agree to certain responsibilities to take advantage of FYI. This is simply a tool to ensure that DSS properly supports youth and it is a “cut and paste” from Chafee so funding these services should not be a problem.

  • Arrange a meeting (we always say take your PHA to lunch) between the agency directors.

  • Complete an MOU or a letter of agreement. Click here for a sample letter of agreement.

  • Once the letter is signed, PHA notifies HUD via email that they would like to implement FYI.  This email serves as an application.

  • Wait for notification from HUD that they are approved.  HUD is aiming to respond to applications within no more than 60 days of receiving the request for a tenant protection/FYI voucher for a youth!