Financial lifeline works to keep vulnerable WA youth housed

Homelessness, though discussed as a current crisis, is an old problem. One reason it persists may be the traditional reluctance of government to listen to those facing it and design responses with their guidance in mind. Call it the “professionals-know-best” approach to a wildly complex puzzle.

That kind of hubris marked King County’s 2005 declaration that homelessness would be eradicated within a decade — a cruel joke to anyone walking through downtown Seattle today.

But state officials are beginning to change course. Between 2016 and 2022, Washington cut homelessness among youth and young adults by a whopping 40%, according to newly released data. A large part of this success came through heeding interviews with young adults, aged 18 to 24.

Among their more controversial suggestions: Give cash to people on the margins. It’s an approach gaining traction across the country, from Guaranteed Basic Income to extended foster care. And the results have been surprising.

Since 2020, Washington has doled out grants of about $2,000 to more than 1,000 young people, many of whom were previously couch-surfing, to cover expenses like apartment deposits or car repairs — costs that if unmet can quickly lead to full-blown homelessness.

To be fair, King County was the birthplace of this effort, and outcomes were promising enough that Washington’s Office of Homeless Youth Prevention and Protection jumped in to expand it.

Today, in 10 communities from Pierce County to Spokane, more than 200 nonprofit groups, as well as counselors, teachers, religious leaders and others, can request these cash awards for almost any emergency need a young person may have. The idea is to get them money fast, usually within two days, with as few restrictions as possible.

Skeptics will warn about irresponsible people burning through public dollars. But that is not what the data show.

Ninety-two percent of those who used Washington’s Homeless Diversion and Prevention Fund between 2021 and ’22 remained housed a year later, according to Kim Justice, executive director of the Office of Homeless Youth.

That’s a success rate vastly better than most other interventions, and cheaper too. Consider this cost-benefit equation: The average diversion grant of $2,400 is about 44% less than the $4,350 price tag for a typical 43-day stay in a homeless shelter — with far better results, since people leaving shelters often do not move into stable housing.

And it’s vastly less expensive than the $15,790 Washington spends per household on rapid rehousing rental assistance.

So far, the state has channeled $4 million toward its cash-grant program, with additional support from the Raikes and Schultz Family Foundations.

Diversion will not work for everyone. Most of the young adults helped by this money were not on the streets — that is, not yet deeply entangled in difficulty. They were people in temporary need of a financial lifeline. But it has helped Washington cut the number of homeless youths from nearly 24,000 to about 14,000 in less than a decade.

This success hinges on two things: First, careful screening of candidates (that is, channeling the money toward people with specific, limited needs). Second, using community workers whom clients already know and trust, to help them create plans for stability, rather than handing them off to anonymous strangers in emergency shelters.

Indeed, the whole point is keeping young people out of that system altogether.

No, the problem of youth homelessness is not yet solved. But with results this promising, maybe that lofty goal can finally be met.