Agencies and systems at all levels should work together achieve the goal of ending youth homelessness, according to Framework to End Youth Homelessness: A Resource Text for Dialogue and Action. The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) released the report on February 21 in conjunction with the National Alliance to End Homelessness National Conference on Ending and Family Youth Homelessness.The framework expands upon the 2012 amendment to Opening Doors: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness (see Memo, 9/14/12).According to USICH, “the youth framework sets a path for states, communities, and public and private stakeholders to work together on a strategic approach to getting to better youth outcomes in stable housing, permanent connections, education/employment, and well being.”The framework is based on two strategies intended to be used concurrently and expands on how communities can implement the strategies in a number of phases. The strategies are:
- A data strategy intended to get “better data on the number and characteristics of youth experiencing homelessness.”
- A capacity strategy intended “to strengthen and coordinate the capacity of Federal, State, and local systems to act effectively and efficiently toward ending youth homelessness.”
Also included in the framework is a preliminary intervention model for youth homelessness. The model is intended to acknowledge the diverse needs of homeless youth, while still providing a “structure for better profiling the promising practices already taking place in states and communities” in order to end homelessness among unaccompanied youth.Click here for the framework.