A Worthy Resolution

If you know anything about youth homelessness, you know that we’re still a long way from ending it. But looking back on 2014, you can also see that we have advanced, slowly but surely, in the right direction. While communities around the country still struggle with mounting a youth-inclusive Point-in-Time Count, we’ve seen more commitment at the federal level, from both legislators and agencies. Though the slow pace can be frustrating, momentum is building, and we’ve got many reasons to be hopeful for the future.

One of the persistent obstacles to developing solutions to youth homelessness is the difficulty in obtaining an accurate count of homeless youth. In 2013, communities finally included unaccompanied youth in their Point-in-Time (PIT) counts, which meant we were finally able to include homeless youth in our 2014 State of Homelessness report. The 2014 PIT Count was not perfect, but some communities did a fantastic job.

This year also marked the 40th anniversary of the 1974 Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA), the only piece of federal legislation devoted exclusively to youth homelessness. The Act expired in September 2013, but this year Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) wrote legislation that would not just reauthorize it, but improve upon it. The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill, but reauthorization is unlikely to happen this congressional session.

At the Department of Health and Human Services, the Families and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) proposed significant changes to RHYA programs that would increase their capacity to serve homeless youth as well as their flexibility in providing services and coordinating with communities. FYSB also released findings from its study of youth served by street outreach programs in 11 cities and facilitated an inspiring #BecauseofRHYA social media campaign to highlight the impact of RHYA in its 40th anniversary year.

At the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), officials provided some much needed clarity on HUD’s eligibility criteria for homeless children and youth that described conditions by which a homeless youth’s housing circumstances may qualify him or her for HUD homeless assistance services.

No doubt about it, as we move into 2015, we still have so much work to do. (This country still doesn’t have anywhere near enough shelter beds to keep homeless youth off the streets.) But we are seeing the commitment to end youth homelessness growing all across the country, influenced, led, and informed by the voices of homeless youth themselves. It is an exciting time to be doing this work, and we look forward to even more progress in the New Year. Thousands of homeless kids around the country deserve it!