A Direct Cash Program Kept 94% of Participants Housed and Challenged Long-Held Myths About Youth Homelessness
A recently completed pilot program aimed at reducing youth homelessness in Oregon suggests that the state may have cracked the code in helping this underserved population.
Point Source Youth, a New York City-based nonprofit, and the Oregon Department of Human Services recently published the results of a two-year pilot public-private partnership they developed to address the needs of soon-to-be unhoused youths. The program used a Direct Cash Transfer (DCT) model to address the needs of homeless youths in Oregon, such as helping them fund affordable housing, finish high school, and afford food and clothes.
A Different Approach: Cash First, Questions Later
The program worked like this. Homeless youths aged 18 to 24 received a one-time $3,000 “enrichment” payment plus $1,000 per month for two years. The money could be spent on major expenses like rent, utilities, security deposits, moving costs, and job training.
Even though the program attracted skepticism, the results speak for themselves. Over the two-year period, 94% of youths in the program remained housed, and 75% of participants were either employed or enrolled in school. Another one-third of participants used the cash to buy resources they needed to complete school or get a job.
The idea is to connect youths on the verge of homelessness with services and support before they fall through the cracks, said Larry Cohen, co-founder and executive director of Point Source Youth.
“We saw if you give a young person money with those other things, you can really launch them into positive success and out of homelessness, and you can do so cheaper and more effective in a way that can scale faster than anything else,” Cohen said.
Why Youth Homelessness Is Largely Invisible
Youth homelessness is one of America’s greatest and most understood problems. Depending on who you ask, there are anywhere between 3.5 million and 4.2 million unhoused youths across the country.
The number of homeless youths also highlights the inadequacy of America’s system for measuring homelessness. There are two ways homeless youths are counted: one is controlled by the Department of Education under the McKinney-Vento Act, and the other is through the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual Point-in-Time Count. McKinney-Vento figures are reported by schools, while PIT data is collected by volunteers during one night in January.
The disparity between the McKinney Vento and PIT data suggests that there are many people experiencing homelessness who are not included in federal and local data. For instance, McKinney-Vento data suggest there are roughly 4.2 million unhoused school-age youths in America. In comparison, the PIT count found just under 40,000 “unaccompanied youths,” or youths experiencing homelessness without a parental or legal guardianship.
The difference between those numbers suggests there are roughly 4.1 million youths experiencing homelessness with at least one caretaker, or more than 8.2 million people in all. That is far greater than the more than 771,000 people counted in the PIT count.
The Benefit Cliff That Pushes Youth Into Homelessness
Providing adequate services for homeless youths can be just as challenging as identifying them. Many shelters do not allow people under the age of 18 to live there because of their conditions. Meanwhile, some existing services for homeless youths are only available until the youth turns 18, which creates a benefit cliff for youths reaching adulthood.
Gabrielle Huffman, one of the Oregon DCT program participants, is a great example of how difficult it can be to serve unhoused youths through traditional services. Huffman, a single mother, survived intimate partner violence and experienced harassment from her landlord, which caused her to lose her job and home.
After enrolling in DCT, Huffman connected with one-on-one services from local providers. She also attended financial literacy workshops and other life skills classes. She said the experience gave her the “stability” she was looking for.
“It gave me enough stability to show up for my daughter the way I wanted to,” Huffman said. “It gave me the capacity to take steps that used to feel impossible – staying housed, getting support, taking my mental health seriously, and doing the daily work of building a safer, steadier life.”
Debunking Myths About Homeless Youth
Cohen added that the DCT program has also pushed back against some myths about youth homelessness. For instance, Cohen said many people think homeless youths are incapable of performing basic life skills like budgeting and finding a job. It also pushed back on the notion that youths become homeless for the sake of experiencing the fleeting feeling of “ultimate freedom.”
“In addition to being really good at budgeting, [homeless youths will] make logical decisions to expend money on what Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs indicates is important to them, which is shelter, food, and education, and income after that,” Cohen said. “Those things are real.”
The results of the DCT program also show that “we can do better” when it comes to ending youth homelessness, Cohen said.
“The standard is not asking a young person, ‘What do you need?’ and resourcing them with what they need,” he added. “If we’re not helping them with cash, which is the transferable mechanism of power in this society, then we’re not serving youth well.”
A Model That Can Scale Faster Than Traditional Services
The pandemic forced us to rethink housing in the U.S. and made one thing clear: targeted aid programs work. When service agencies had enough funding and clear guidance, they kept countless individuals, families, and unaccompanied youths housed during the crisis. This success highlights the urgent need for similar long-term solutions.
You can help break the cycle of youth homelessness by calling on lawmakers to expand and sustain these vital support systems. Urge them to establish dedicated state offices that:
- Directly address youth homelessness
- Provide pathways to education for homeless youths
- Strengthen community ties to support vulnerable young people
These initiatives will ensure that young people don’t just survive but thrive, giving them the resources they need to rebuild their futures.
Contact your representatives today and advocate for policies prioritizing the needs of homeless youths. Ending youth homelessness is the key to a brighter future for millions of young people—and you can be part of the solution.