Housing Stability Supports for Youth and Young Adults Exiting Systems of Care: Washington Systems of Care Grant-Funded Programs

Since 2019, the Office of Homeless Youth has partnered with private philanthropic donors to fund interventions that serve youth and young adults ages 12 to 25 at risk of or currently experiencing homelessness after exiting Washington’s child welfare, behavioral health, or juvenile rehabilitation systems. In this report we describe the demographic characteristics, prior housing status, and behavioral health needs of youth and young adults (YYA) served by these “System of Care” (SOC) grant-funded programs from July 2019 to December 2024. Findings indicate that participants received housing supports and food assistance at higher rates following their enrollment in SOC programs. Their measured rates of homelessness and housing instability also declined substantially, though findings should be interpreted with caution and may be partially an artifact of how homelessness is measured in the administrative data used in this study. Refining SOC program data collection in future studies could yield more specific and actionable insights.