Projects

  • FYI is a distribution mechanism that allows child welfare professionals to synchronize “on demand” Housing Choice Vouchers with the transition to adulthood for youth aging out of foster care. Child welfare independent living coordinators can not only eliminate the fear of homelessness, they can help young people plan for economic independence. All young people aging out of foster care who are income eligible for HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher Program are eligible for FYI or more specifically, the FUP youth vouchers that FYI makes possible. 

    —Chafee funding available for housing
    —FYI Fact Sheet

  • Rapidly house children and families in Head Start and Early Head Start programs struggling with stable housing to support child development and family success.

  • —Coping with Covid-19 Housing & Economic Security for Former Foster Youth in College

  • —Restoring compassion, reason, and a continuum of options to the Continuum of Care

Achievements

  • Working directly with ACTION Ohio we designed and delivered necessary changes to HUD’s thirty-year-old Family Unification Program. Due to youth advocacy and sophistication - and HUD’s willingness to listen - we synchronized FUP with emancipation and eliminated geographic disparities in the program. Access to FUP for youth or FUPY is now universal.

  • We listened and worked directly with current and former foster youth we learned the best way to improve housing programs to prevent homelessness because being ready for independence and hoping for adoption are not mutually exclusive.

  • More than 3,000 youth (a more than ten fold increase since July 2019) have accessed permanent housing to prevent homelessness and instead begin their journey to economic success.

  • Over 2,000 children returned to their parents from foster care through due to HUD’s Family Unification Program.

  • Because all good ideas must be disseminated, we partnered with formerly homeless foster youth, attorneys, child welfare professionals, and public housing authority leaders to train and disseminate knowledge about how to end homelessness for youth and families.

  • Our work to keep families together and safe has saved the federal government over $54,000,000 in annual foster care costs.

  • We extended “on-demand” permanent housing subsidies to homeless Head Start families, eliminating the need to navigate the labyrinth of Coordinated Entry only to be told ‘no’ and face the prospect of losing their children to foster care.

  • NHCW established the “Head Start on Housing” Campaign to encourage landlords to rent to low-income households.