HUD Releases Early Implementation Report on the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program

HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research has released an early implementation report offering insights into HUD’s Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program. In round one of the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) in 2016, HUD awarded funds to ten Continuums of Care (CoCs) to enable them to develop and implement coordinated community plans for preventing and eliminating youth homelessness. To assess the outcomes achieved by these CoCs, researchers began data collection for the early implementation report in May 2017 as part of a 4-year evaluation.

The early implementation report provides a site assessment of each YHDP CoC’s planning effort, paired with a summary of its baseline status of services, housing, and system development, assessed through document reviews and site visits. To provide a frame of reference, the report includes comparable data for three peer non-YHDP funded CoCs, selected for similarity to one or more participant CoCs. The researchers include the results of a survey, which will be re-administered to participant CoCs every two years. Finally, the publication describes the prevalence of youth homelessness at each CoC prior to and following the implementation of the coordinated community plan.