Housing First for Youth

Housing First for Youth (HF4Y) is a rights-based intervention for young people (aged 13–24) who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness. It is designed to address the needs of developing adolescents and young adults by providing them with immediate access to housing that is safe, affordable and appropriate along with necessary and age-appropriate supports that focus on health, well-being, life skills, engagement in education and employment, and social inclusion.

The goal of HF4Y is not simply to provide housing stability, but to support young people as youth and facilitate a healthy transition to adulthood. HF4Y can be considered both as an intervention or program model, as well as a philosophy guiding a community’s response to youth homelessness.

HF4Y is an adaptation of the well-established Housing First approach to addressing homelessness. Housing First programs—including the Pathways model and the At Home/Chez Soi project—have shown great success in addressing the needs of adults who experience homelessness by specifically prioritizing chronically homeless persons with significant mental health and addictions issues.

The HF4Y adaptation of Housing First is based on the understanding that the causes and conditions of youth homelessness are distinct from adults, and therefore the solutions must be youth-focused. HF4Y is grounded in the belief that all young people have a right to housing and that those who have experienced homelessness will do better and recover more effectively if they are first provided with housing.

Core Principles

There are five core principles of HF4Y:

1. A right to housing with no preconditions.
2. Youth choice, youth voice, and self-determination.
3. Positive youth development and wellness orientation.
4. Individualized, client-driven supports with no time limits.
5. Social inclusion and community integration.

Let’s look at each of them in more detail.

A Right to Housing with No Preconditions

HF4Y involves providing young people with assistance in obtaining safe, secure and permanent housing that meets their needs as quickly as possible. Youth homelessness exists because of the denial of the basic human rights of young people. Practically speaking, this means that policies, laws and strategies aimed at youth homelessness must recognize international human rights obligations and be grounded in a human rights framework that will inform all stages of development, implementation, and evaluation.

For youth, housing needs to be safe, affordable and appropriate, based on the needs and abilities of developing adolescents and young adults. There should also be a consideration of location and accessibility not becoming barriers to accessing services. In addition, cultural appropriateness needs to be taken into account, particularly for Indigenous youth.

The separation of housing from supports means that young people are not required to accept supports or to participate in programming (ex. attending school) as a condition of obtaining or retaining their housing. This also means that when support ends, young people do not have to leave their accommodation. It is permanent for as long as they choose to live there. Similarly, if someone loses their housing or tenancy, they are not out of the Housing First program. The offer of support is tied to the individual, not their housing, and young people should be assisted in finding new housing.

Youth Choice, Youth Voice, and Self-Determination

As a rights-based, client-centred approach, HF4Y emphasizes youth choice regarding housing and supports. Choices are best made when young people have been provided with enough information to make an informed decision on the appropriate options available to them.

In supporting youth choice, one also needs to consider age and cognitive functioning (ex. FASD, developmental delays, and brain injury) and how this may impact decision-making. Complexities may constrain choices available to youth, which is acceptable as long as the available options provide youth with the opportunity to choose their preferred course of action.

In the context of HF4Y, “choice” means that young people are able to make their own decisions about their goals and their future, what services they receive and when to start using (or end) services. Case workers will work with young people in a supportive and strengths-based way to identify assets and challenges, and to develop and actualize clients’ identified goals. Young people must be able to exercise some choice regarding the location and type of housing they receive (ex. neighbourhood, congregate setting, scattered site, etc.).

However, there are some limits to choice, and HF4Y comes with two key conditions:

1. Young people must agree to a weekly visit or contact with a caseworker.
2. If young people have an income source, they are expected to contribute up to 30% to the cost of rent.

Positive Youth Development and Wellness Orientation

Within the established Housing First model, practice is not simply focused on meeting basic client needs, but on supporting recovery. For youths, a recovery orientation is not only embedded in an understanding of child and youth development, but must also account for the fact that many young people who wind up homelessness have experienced trauma.

Research consistently shows that a majority of street youth come from homes where there were high levels of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, interpersonal violence and assault, parental neglect and exposure to domestic violence, etc. Moreover, once on the streets, young people are often exposed to high levels of violence and sexual exploitation. Such traumatic experiences can impair cognitive development, decision-making and undermine the ability of young people to form attachments.

The HF4Y model employs a “positive youth development” orientation, a strengths-based approach that focuses not just on risk and vulnerability, but also youth’s assets. A positive youth development approach:

• Identifies the youth’s personal strengths in order to build self-esteem and a positive sense of self
• Works to improve the youth’s communication and problem solving skills
• Enhances and builds natural supports, including family relationships
• Assists the youth in personal goal setting
• Helps the youth to access educational opportunities and identify personal interests

Social Inclusion and Community Integration

Many young people who are homeless or unstably housed experience social exclusion—a term that describes the circumstances and experiences of people who are shut out, fully or partially, from many of the social, economic, political and cultural institutions, and practices of society.

Part of the HF4Y strategy is to promote social inclusion by helping young people build the strengths, skills and relationships that will enable them to fully integrate into and participate in their community, notably though education and employment. This requires socially supportive engagement and the opportunity to participate in meaningful activities.

If people are housed and become or remain socially isolated, the stability of their housing may be compromised. Social inclusion and community integration are crucially important to the development of adolescents and young adults. Within a HF4Y context, this can be particularly difficult and challenging work.

HF4Y as a Program Model

Housing First can be considered more specifically as a program when it is operationalized as a service delivery model or set of activities provided by an organization. In other words, the program closely follows the core principles of HF4Y, and the service delivery model seeks to address the broader range of support needs intended not only to facilitate independence, but a successful transition to adulthood and wellness. While HF4Y programs must demonstrate fidelity to the model, values, and core principles as described, it can—and should—be adapted to take account of the local context, including the range of existing services and supports.

As a human rights-based approach, the HF4Y philosophy and guiding principles should be applied to all youth who are at risk of, or who experience homelessness. This is a departure from Housing First, in which those with the most acute needs are prioritized. This is because we know well from evidence that if we let young people become and remain homeless for any length of time, the risk of exploitation and criminal victimization, coupled with the rigours of life on the streets, can result in compromised health, declining mental health, increased substance use, and and becoming entrenched on the streets. We also need to consider the role of HF4Y as a preventive program model for young people who are currently housed and yet are highly vulnerable.

Models of Accommodation

An HF4Y program can offer a range of housing options to young people.

1. Returning home
   One of the potential housing outcomes of HF4Y is that young people are assisted and supported to return to the home of their parents or to the home of a significant adult including relatives, godparents and family friends. Returning home is best supported through programs and services that adopt a family reconnect orientation.
2. In-place crisis housing
   Sometimes referred to as “respite accommodation,” in-place crisis housing is short-term accommodation for young people with the aim of diverting youth away from emergency shelters into healthier, more positive environments while long-term housing is being arranged.
3. Supportive housing
   This encompasses a number of possible program models that can range from short-term to long-term or permanent.
4. Transitional housing
   The actual living arrangements within a transitional housing model can vary. Two stage models provide an interesting approach, whereby in the first stage, young people live in congregate settings where they may share living space (separate bedrooms but congregate cooking and living spaces). In the second stage, young people may move into separate bachelor apartments within the same facility.The inclusion of transitional housing within an HF4Y program model comes with two caveats. First, time-limited transitional housing is highly problematic and does not produce positive outcomes, because young people are forced to leave before they are ready. Second, all young people who access such accommodation must eventually be supported to move into independent living, with supports, at some point.
5. Independent living in scattered site housing
   This is the model of accommodation that most closely fits with mainstream approaches to Housing First, and should be the end goal for any client in a HF4Y program. Independent living refers to situations where young people obtain and maintain their own or shared permanent housing in either the private market or the social housing sector. Depending on the needs and desires of the young person, they will also have access to a range of services and supports.

Endaayaang - An Indigenous-led approach to HF4Y

Endaayaang, meaning 'Our Home' in Ojibwe, is an Indigenous-led HF4Y program led by the Hamilton Regional Indian Centre in Hamilton, Ontario. Its focus is on helping youth deal with the loss of culture or community, which is seen as a key contributor to their experiencing homelessness.

For more information about Housing First for Youth, see our free series of trainings on the Homelessness Learning Hub.