HomelessYouth and Young Adult Summit



❖ Housing/Services for Unaccompanied Minors

o 3 things for council members to know:

▪ There are a limited amount of beds for unaccompanied minors who are not in the foster care system (22 total teen shelter beds in King County: 8–Seattle, 5-South King County, 9-North/East King County)

▪ Due to a lack of housing teens are forced to live in shelter long term.

▪ In some situations CPS does more harm than good.

▪ It is important for teen shelters to be confidential, safe, and employ experienced staff who can establish trust with shelter participants.

o What council members can do about this:

▪ Make housing teens a priority in the City/County.

▪ Fund agencies, that currently provide drop-in homeless youth programming, to provide additional teen shelter beds at their drop-in.

▪ Provide additional housing options for minors including: prevention family counseling and transitional living for minors.

▪ Ensure youth are aware of services and move into housing within 48 hours of unstable living.

❖ Career Development

o 3 things for council members to know:

▪ Unstable housing affects employment opportunities and advancement for youth/young adults.

▪ Homeless youth/young adults need more support to find, apply for, and maintain mainstream employment.

▪ Homeless youth/young adults want to increase their job skills and build work experience.

o What council members can do about this:

▪ Prioritize housing for employed homeless youth/young adults.

▪ Fund employment support services for homeless youth/young adults.

▪ Provide paid career development opportunities for homeless young people.

❖ Transportation/Metro

o 3 things for council members to know:

▪ Homeless young people utilize metro to get to services, emergency housing, and employment.

▪ Non-profits have a limited amount of bus tickets to provide to program participants.

▪ It is difficult to get to many parts of King County due to the current metro route structure.

o What council members can do about this:

▪ Initiate and provide more bus tickets or reduced fare Orca cards for unstably housed youth/young adults.

▪ Facilitate a meeting between Metro and unstably housed people.

▪ Restructure the current bus routes to increase homeless individuals’ access to emergency services.

❖ Public Storage and Lockers

o 3 things for council members to know:

▪ Public lockers could benefit the homeless and increase tourism.

▪ Lockers could help eliminate social stigma and health problems.

▪ Public lockers could prevent congestion on busses, businesses, and sidewalks.

o What council members can do about this:

▪ Allocate money to install public lockers in one location such as Seattle Center.

▪ Use the revenue from these lockers to expand public lockers throughout the City/County.

▪ Establish a voucher system where homeless people can get free/reduced access to lockers.

▪ Contract to include mandatory lockers at all City/County funded drop-in centers and shelters.

❖ Service Stewardship

o 3 things for council members to know:

▪ Sometimes youth/young adults do not receive quality services from homeless youth/young adult providers, specifically case managers.

▪ Many homeless youth/young adult programs have age restrictions that dictate exit and force young adults to find new case managers.

o What council members can do about this:

▪ Fund case managers at an appropriate case load so they can provide quality services. Provide funding for more case managers in all areas of the City. Increase direct service basic need budget amounts, in-house trainings, regulations, and accountability for homeless youth/young adult programs.

▪ Allow age limit exemptions. Allocate funding to cater to young adults transitioning out of homeless young adult services.

▪ Pair volunteers with case managers to assist with mentoring and on-going wrap around services.

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