HHAP Grantee Assessment Tool

Overarching Principles: Our overarching principles are principles that should be implemented in every program, intervention, and strategy designed to prevent, address, and/or end youth homelessness. These principles are evidence-based approaches or frameworks that increase the positive impact and effectiveness of programs and strategies for youth at-risk or experiencing homelessness.

Prevention: In Structural Prevention of Youth Homelessness prevention of youth homelessness is defined as, “policies, practices, and interventions that either... reduce the likelihood that a young person will experience homelessness, or... provide youth experiencing homelessness with the necessary support to stabilize their housing, improve their wellbeing, connect with the community, and avoid re-entry into homelessness” (36). Implementing prevention strategies is a crucial component of a multi-faceted approach to reducing youth homelessness (37). Preventing homelessness among youth can even serve to prevent homelessness among adults, as evidence shows that experiencing homelessness as a youth increases the risk of homelessness later in life (38).

Outreach and Early Intervention: Outreach & Early Intervention is identified by the Homeless Hub as a critical preventive activity. Early intervention is defined as “providing crisis intervention to those who have recently experienced homelessness. Examples include: effective outreach, coordinated intake and assessment, case management, and shelter diversion” (14). The aim of this intervention is to help youth obtain the support needed to rapidly access appropriate housing. It also focuses on meeting the specific health-related needs of youth, as well as material, interpersonal, social, and educational resources (14). 

Beginning Stabilization: In Structural Prevention of Youth Homelessness housing stabilization for youth is defined as a form of tertiary prevention that “involves assisting young people who have already experienced homelessness and housing precarity to exit that situation as quickly as possible, with the necessary supports in place to ensure they do not cycle back into homelessness again” (46). Simply housing young people is not enough for a healthy transition to adulthood. Instead, youth also need to be supported and accompanied to gain the necessary skills, experiences, and psychosocial tools and resources to undertake the transition to independence (46). Beginning housing stabilization fulfills those needs by including strategies related to housing support, health and wellbeing, access to income and education, complementary support, and social inclusion (46).

Housing Models for Youth and Housing Stabilization: Housing models can be categorized into short-term and long-term housing, Housing models should “combine rental or housing assistance with individualized, flexible, and voluntary support services” (48). According to the Homeless Hub, the goal of all housing options under housing first for youth (HF4Y) is to provide housing stability, support youth holistically, and achieve a healthy transition to adulthood (49). Access to services and supports depends on the specific needs and desires of the youth (49). Core principles of the HF4Y approach are youth choice, youth voice, and self-determinations; youth should be able to have a say on the kind of housing they want to receive, where it is located, and what services and supports they want to access (49). The ultimate outcome is independent living (49). Importantly, housing models and support designed for adults but implemented to support youth are not considered HF4Y (49).

Cross-Systems Collaboration and System-Level Strategies: This section refers to cross-system collaboration and system-level strategies that can and should be taken into consideration when planning a youth-responsive homelessness system. Cross system-collaboration and system-level strategies focus on the collective impact and the shared responsibility the different systems (e.g., education system, child welfare system, juvenile justice system, healthcare system) have in addressing and ending youth homelessness. These two strategies are fundamental to ensure that youth are not falling through the cracks of the system(s), especially in rural and/or scarce-resource communities.

vi. What are Cross-System Collaboration and Systems-Level Strategies?

This section refers to cross-system collaboration and system-level strategies that can and should be taken into consideration when planning a youth-responsive homelessness system. It has two main areas of intervention: 1) Cross-system collaboration and coordination, and 2) System-level strategies. For more information on each of the strategies, best practices, examples, evidence and more, see Summarizing Table: Housing Models for Youth and Housing Stabilization.

Cross-system collaboration and coordination refers to the effective and...

i.9. Data-Driven Decisions

Data play a fundamental role in preventing, addressing, and ending youth homelessness. High-quality data help in identifying youth experiencing homelessness, supporting youth in exiting homelessness, understanding what programs and strategies are more impactful in preventing, addressing, and ending youth homelessness, and ensuring equity throughout the homelessness response system.

Data around homelessness generally come from two main sources: 1) data collected by the shelter system and other related agencies and programs that offer services to youth experiencing homelessness, and 2...

i. Overarching Principles

Our overarching principles are principles that should be implemented in every program, intervention, and strategy designed to
prevent, address, and/or end youth homelessness. These principles are evidence-based approaches or frameworks that increase the
positive impact and effectiveness of programs and strategies for youth at-risk or experiencing homelessness. Based on the scoping
review we conducted, we are highlighting nine overarching principles:

i.5. Housing Justice and Housing First

Housing is a human right and a key determinant of health and well-being (24). The Urban Institute Housing Justice Hub defines Housing Justice as “Ensuring everyone has affordable housing that promotes health, well-being, and upward mobility by confronting historical and ongoing harms and disparities caused by structural racism and other systems of oppression” (25). Housing Justice requires “the transformation of institutions and systems that have driven racialized dispossession of land, displacement from home, and exclusion from access to safety and stability in the form...

i.2. Trauma-Informed Care

Trauma Informed Care (TIC) approach is a framework implemented by organizations or systems with the aims of: 1) realizing the impact of trauma and understanding the potential paths towards recovery; 2) recognizing the signs and symptoms of trauma; 3) responding by fully integrating this knowledge into policies, procedures, and practices; and, 4) seeking to actively resist re- traumatization (18). According to SAMHSA, TIC approaches have six key principles: safety, trustworthiness and transparency, peer support, collaboration and mutuality, empowerment, voice, and choice,...

i.1. Positive Youth Development (Youth Empowerment)

Positive youth development (PYD) is defined by the Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs, as: “An intentional, prosocial
approach that engages youth within their communities, schools, organizations, peer groups, and families in a manner that is
productive and constructive; recognizes, utilizes, and enhances young people ́s strengths; and promotes positive outcomes for young
people by providing opportunities, fostering positive relationships, and furnishing the support needed to build on their leadership and
strengths” (16). In summary, PYD is an approach...

i.3. Harm Reduction Approach

Harm reduction is a framework that has the aim of understanding structural inequalities impacting youth. It is also a range of
strategies that includes safer techniques, managed use, and abstinence, to promote the dignity and wellbeing of youth. The key goal
is to meet people where they are, but not leaving them there (19). An important characteristic of this approach is that it recognizes
that abstinence may not be a realistic or desirable goal for youth, the use of substances is accepted as a fact, and the focus is not on
abstinence but on reducing harm while...

i.4. Cultural Humility

Cultural humility is an orientation towards how services are provided. It is based on self-reflexivity and assessment, appreciation of clients’ expertise on their lives, openness to establishing power-balances relationships with youth, and a willingness and dedication to keep learning. Cultural humility means cultivating a lens where we admit that we do not know, and we are willing to learn from youth about their experiences. It refers to an intrapersonal and interpersonal approach that cultivates patient-centered care (22). The practice of cultural humility includes not...

i.8. Equity and Inclusivity

Equity can be defined as the absence of systematic disparities between groups with different levels of underlying social disadvantage (e.g., wealth, power, prestige, education). Inclusivity is defined as the practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded. Inequities systematically put groups of people, who are already disadvantaged, at further disadvantage with respect to their housing status, education, employment, and health, among other areas (31). For instance, Black, Latinx,...

i.6. Youth Choice and Youth Agency

Youth choice and youth agency means giving youth the opportunity to make decisions in their own lives. Young people have the right to voice their preferences and choose between the different options available to them, based on what they believe works best for them. By implementing a youth choice and youth agency approach, programs treat youth with dignity and respect and are upholding their rights. In this approach, youth are not punished for exercising their choice, agency, and autonomy. Decisions made and driven by youth are more impactful and sustainable than decision...