Transition-age youth (TAY) are individuals ages 16 to 24 (sometimes through age 27) who are aging out of programs such as foster care, juvenile detention centers, supportive housing, or disability support systems. Young people exiting systems are at greater risk of homelessness and housing instability, facing more limited access to the resources and supports that all young adults need to thrive, including financial, structural, and emotional supports that often help young adults as they complete their education, enter the workforce, and find and sustain secure independent housing.

Connecting young people with tailored housing and supportive services can help them successfully transition to adulthood and can support future mobility and success. Yet many regions lack housing intended for TAY, particularly those with criminal justice histories. As part of the Just Home Project, two communities, San Francisco and Missoula, have focused on filling the housing gap for TAY, each highlighting key lessons and insights into the service- and housing-related needs and challenges this population faces.

How Missoula and San Francisco are building housing to support TAY

Missoula and San Francisco both focused their Just Home projects on TAY. With the University of Montana’s Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities, the team in Missoula conducted a needs assessment, which highlighted two key issues that were driving housing instability for TAY. First, local supports for TAY did not include housing, making many vulnerable to homelessness. Second, a lack of rental, credit, and income history limited young people’s housing options. To address this gap, Homeword acquired and renovated a fourplex building to create The Cube, which provides affordable housing for TAY in partnership with Youth Homes. The Cube incorporates supportive services to help TAY transition to independent living. Many of these young people have never previously signed or adhered to a lease and often need guidance and support to understand how to pay rent, communicate with a landlord, and exit housing.

The San Francisco Just Home team similarly acquired and renovated a building in Bayview-Hunters Point to create 20 single units (19 housing units for youth plus 1 manager’s unit for 20 units total) of single-room occupancy—or dormitory-style—housing designed to serve justice-involved 18- to 27-year-olds who are experiencing or are at risk of homelessness. The Transitional Housing Program operated by the 3rd Street Youth Center and Clinic in partnership with the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing will provide housing for up to three years for these young people, in addition to supportive services.

How sites structured TAY housing for impact and success

Missoula and San Francisco are very different cities and have unique housing environments, but consistent programming lessons emerged from their planning and implementation processes.

• Include TAY in decisionmaking. Gathering input from TAY themselves and creating compensated opportunities to shape programming is critical to ensuring the housing meets their needs. For example, the team in San Francisco offered youth leadership opportunities within their organizations and invited young people to community events discussing and planning the 3rd Street Youth Center and Clinic. Young people noted that they wanted a mix of shared and private space. Private space is important for both the feeling of safety and independence, particularly for individuals who have experienced homelessness or incarceration, but residents also wanted ways to connect with other young people and build community.
  
  The San Francisco team was able to build dormitory-style units with shared kitchens and gathering spaces, providing an opportunity for community and connection, while maintaining privacy. Similarly, Missoula designed the Cube with social pass-through spaces to discourage isolation. 
• Ensure physical proximity to services and care. Both teams noted that, like most other young adults their age, TAY often struggle to access services without guidance or assistance. Many gave feedback that they faced additional barriers when seeking access to medical information or care and to social services because of incomplete documentation and limited transportation. Missoula and San Francisco worked to build these services on-site or to locate their developments with services nearby. San Francisco is including health education events and regular medical specialist visits. Missoula acquired the Cube, in part, because of its central location and proximity to other services used by TAY in their community.
• Provide case management services to center young people and help build autonomy, while facilitating local access to supportive and health services. Many young people who informed these projects wanted supports that also helped them make informed decisions and gain autonomy in their care. Many young adults need guidance and support when navigating health care and other decisions. In response, both Missoula and San Francisco use a case management approach, pairing housing access with guided supports. Missoula has provided support to tenants as they navigate late payments, how to exit a unit, and even how to talk to a landlord about getting a pet.

The developments in San Francisco and Missoula highlight examples of how to include young people’s input, individualized case management, and easy access to care. The work in San Francisco and Missoula is even more critical at this moment, as supports for young adults may be eliminated in coming years through federal and state funding cuts or freezes. These limits are weakening organizations’ capacity to support young adults, and changes to project-based housing vouchers will further destabilize housing for young people. As cities seek to stabilize and support young adults, projects like these provide examples for other localities.