Housing for Post-Foster Care Kids

As many as 65% of foster care kids in Utah end up homeless and on the streets. A youth commission in Salt Lake County is proposing a new sort of housing project to help young adults as they age out of the foster care system.

October 10, 2008, 10am PDT | Tim Halbur

The community-centered housing project potentially will provide 45 residential units for teens too old for foster care.

The project also will include dedicated, on-site support services for residents who are learning to live an independent life. "It's a big, big dream," [Marianne Brough, a leadership and mentoring coordinator for Youth EmployAbility Services] said.

Karen Quackenbush, a grant coordinator for the LaPorte Group, the commission's preferred developer for the project, explained that the project is not currently planned, but that the LaPorte Group is excited about the project and hopes to be able to work on it within the next couple of years. The developer "is very sympathetic to their goals and needs. We just don't have anything set in stone," explained Quackenbush.

Full Story:

Housing sought for kids too old for foster care

Published on Thursday, October 9, 2008 in The Salt Lake Tribune