Reflections from Texas’ First Statewide Count of Youth Experiencing Homelessness

Executive Summary:

In recent years, local, state and federal policymakers across the country have become increasingly concerned about the needs of youth experiencing homelessness or unstable housing. In response, organizations are conducting youth counts in cities and some states across the country to better measure and understand youth homelessness, in order to inform planning for services and assess change. These efforts can best be described as “works in progress,” and many of those implementing youth counts find that the associated logistical and other challenges can be daunting.

Against this backdrop of interest and concern about the needs of youth experiencing homelessness nationally, Texas state legislators passed House Bill 679 in 2015 to call for research into the number of youth experiencing homelessness in Texas and their needs. In response to this mandate, the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) launched Youth Count Texas!, the first-ever effort to conduct a statewide count of youth experiencing homelessness in Texas. TDHCA contracted with Texas Network of Youth Services (TNOYS) and from summer 2015 to spring 2016, TNOYS coordinated the development and implementation of a survey tool, data collection, and related count activities across Texas.

This report describes and evaluates the processes that were used to plan and implement this statewide initiative, documenting successes, challenges, and lessons learned. Data and findings from the 1,007 surveys collected will be analyzed and reported on separately as part of the final strategic planning phase of the initiative. The findings and recommendations in this report complement and help to explain the youth survey data itself. Additionally, findings from this process evaluation will allow public officials, advocates, service providers, and other stakeholders the opportunity to refine future state and local efforts to count youth experiencing homelessness and assess their needs.

The Youth Count Texas! project mobilized service providers, community volunteers, advocates, and other stakeholders across Texas, with 13 communities (seven of which represent major metropolitan areas) hosting youth count events or activities and submitting survey data. To plan and implement Youth Count Texas!, TNOYS worked in collaboration with state and local organizations, including Continuum of Care (CoC) organizations, homeless coalitions, and partners at Texas Homeless Network, Texas Homeless Education Office, and university faculty/researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Houston.

The evaluation report on Youth Count Texas! includes a number of insights and lessons learned:

• A flexible process that allowed for local autonomy and included incentives seemed to encourage community participation and facilitate data collection. Youth services organizations, CoC organizations, and homeless coalitions were 4 able to successfully collaborate in many communities in order to plan and complete Youth Count Texas! activities.
• Many count organizers were able to incorporate youth count best practices into their events and activities, though the project’s short time frame placed limits on the extent to which they could do so. • There were both advantages and disadvantages associated with combining a youth count with the annual HUD PIT count.
• Count organizers, team members, and volunteers overwhelmingly reported that they would participate in a future youth count.
• Planning time was severely limited, and a longer timeline would have enhanced the process and the experience for count organizers and partners.
• Competing priorities for survey content and length may have affected participation and underscore potential conflict between the goals of a needs assessment versus a homeless count.
• Although some schools participated in Youth Count Texas!, and one school district led the initiative in a community, many schools were hesitant to participate. School engagement was largely missing in the count overall and may have led to undercounting of school-age youth.

Based on these learnings, we offer the following recommendations for future youth counts:

• Clarify the purpose and goal(s) of a future youth count up front.
• Determine whether the PIT count will be the methodology used in future youth counts.
• Clarify the definition to be used for “homeless youth” in future counts and ensure that all organizers and stakeholders use the agreed-upon definition.
• Identify strategies to increase participation from schools in youth counts and to obtain data related to youth experiencing homelessness through school programs that already exist.
• Once procedural decisions are made, allow adequate planning time for organizations to prepare for future counts.

These findings and recommendations, detailed further in the full report, can support future state and local efforts to assess the needs of youth experiencing homelessness and make important contributions to the broader ongoing dialogue about youth counts that are increasingly happening across the country. The information gained from reflecting on the recent Youth Count Texas! process may also be especially valuable since few, if any, youth counts have been conducted on this large a scale in a state as large as Texas.