New Federal Strategy Seeks to End Family, Child and Youth Homelessness in 10 Years

 Today the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness unveiled the nation’s first-ever comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness:
 
“Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness” (PDF, 2.15 MB)
 
Among the plan’s four overarching goals is preventing and ending homelessness for families, youth and children in 10 years. To achieve that goal, the federal government will work toward several objectives, including advancing health and housing stability for youth aging out of systems such as foster care and juvenile justice.

The strategy also aims to improve coordination and collaboration among federal agencies. Collaborative initiatives include:
 

• A new families and children initiative through which the U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, and Education will work together to implement a housing and services program for 6,000 families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
• A joint effort by the Interagency Council on Homelessness and the Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs to support those working to prevent and address youth homelessness, via FindYouthInfo.gov and the working group’s Solutions Desk, and to draft a framework for a pilot program to address the housing and service needs of youth in transition that could be proposed in coming fiscal years.

A webinar on the strategy will be presented tomorrow, Wednesday, June 23, 2:00–2:45 p.m. EST, at www.hud.gov/webcasts.