Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program - August 2016 Funding Announcement

August 2016 Funding Announcement: The Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program

The Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) is an exciting new initiative designed to reduce the number of youth experiencing homelessness. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has released a YHDP Notice of Funding Availability and encourages all communities, through their local Continuum of Care, to apply to become one of the communities selected to participate. HUD will select up to ten communities, four of which will be rural communities. The YHDP offers the following to the ten communities selected:

• $33 million dollars set aside for YHDP projects, where each community can apply for between $1 million and $15 million
• The opportunity to implement new and innovative project models
• Dedicated teams of technical assistance (TA) providers to advise the planning and implementation of the coordinated community plan

YHDP participation requires:

• Collaborating with a broad array of partners including a youth advisory board and the local or state public child welfare agency
• Developing a coordinated community plan to prevent and end youth homelessness and submitting to HUD within six months
• Participating in a demonstration program evaluation to inform the federal effort to prevent and end youth homelessness

Relevant webinars: 

• USICH Webinar on HUD's Notice of Funding Availability for the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP): USICH is hosting a webinar for communities on strategies for success in responding to HUD's Notice of Funding Availability for the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP). The NOFA prioritizes system-level changes aimed at accelerating progress on the Opening Doors goal of preventing and ending youth homelessness. Read the blog (http://ow.ly/mVz6303tmGu) for an overview of the highlights, and join the webinar to learn more about how the NOFA builds upon the USICH vision for a Coordinated Community Response for preventing and ending youth homelessness, including priority actions for communities to consider during the application process.

Timeline: Deadline: November 30th, 2016 Grant Term Length: 2 years, with renewal possibility under the Continuum of Care program if program statutory requirements are met.