LOUISVILLE, KY (June 17, 2019) – The Coalition for the Homeless and Louisville Continuum of Care are excited to announce that six local agencies are receiving U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Youth Homeless Demonstration Program (YHDP) funding.
The purpose of the YHDP is to support communities in the development and implementation of a coordinated community approach to preventing and ending youth homelessness, and sharing that experience with and mobilizing communities around the country.
The population to be served by this program is youth experiencing homelessness, including unaccompanied and pregnant or parenting youth, where no member of the household is older than 24.
The funded organizations and projects are:
- Centerstone of Kentucky has been awarded a services-only grant to fund a community-wide case manager based at TAYLRD drop-in center for homeless youth.
- Family Scholar House has been awarded a services-only grant to fund the assistance of homeless youth to participate in Family Scholar House educational support and resilience programs.
- Home of the Innocents, in partnership with St. Vincent de Paul, has been awarded a services and housing grant to fund a 24-unit transitional housing facility with scattered site rapid re-housing assistance as they transition to permanent housing.
- KentuckianaWorks has been awarded a services-only program to provide employment training to young adults in Louisville’s homeless programs.
- YouthBuild, in partnership with many organizations (including Louisville Free Public Library, Louisville Urban League, Jefferson County Public Schools, and Louisville Youth Group), has been awarded a services-only grant to fund a comprehensive program that includes a community-wide housing navigator, four peer support specialists, and two case managers. In addition, YouthBuild has been awarded a grant for a housing-only program to fund 20 rapid re-housing vouchers to provide housing assistance for homeless young adults in employment programs.
- YMCA Safe Place has been awarded a grant to fund a services-only program to provide outreach, drop-in services, a crisis hotline, and three community-wide case managers plus two peer support specialists, as well as a service pool for transportation and food.
In July 2018, Louisville was one of 11 communities nationally to be awarded a HUD grant for the YHDP. The Coalition for the Homeless, as the lead for the Louisville community, gathered a large group of stakeholders, known as the Homeless Youth Committee. This committee includes key service providers, community leaders, government officials, and stakeholders, tasked with the development of a plan for ending homelessness among youth and young adults in Louisville. They consulted with an advising body of representative youth known as the Youth Action Board.
In March 2019, the Coalition for the Homeless issued an RFP for proposals to implement Louisville’s coordinated community plan. The awardees will begin their work later this fall through two-year renewable grants.
“We are excited about building a complete crisis response system for youth through innovative and collaborative work in our community,” said Natalie Harris, Executive Director. “It will only be through the funding of programs that focus on housing and life stabilizing services that we will be able to prevent and end homelessness for this vulnerable group of young people.”
While this infusion of funding will dramatically impact the community’s ability to provide a full continuum of care for homeless youth, it comes far from solving the problem of homelessness for all Louisvillians.
The funding cuts that the city has proposed will make it more difficult to provide shelter and services to homeless people who are not young adults, from families to elderly people sleeping on the streets. A recent UofL study indicated a need for 30,000 additional housing units for Louisvillians earning $25,000 or less, and this funding will not affect the city’s lack of affordable housing inventory, either.
The Coalition and partners are working hard to end homelessness among youth and young adults while remaining committed to advocating for city funding for homeless services and increased affordable housing in Louisville.