What's New
Housing Challenges Youth Aging Out; Atlanta Program Offers Promise
Widline and Alelia Mompremier
Widline Mompremier, 22, was in foster care from age 13 until 21, living in group and foster homes. Then, she moved into a shelter for homeless teens in Atlanta with her young daughter, Alelia. "I didn't know what I was going to do when I left the shelter," she says. "I didn't have any where to go."
Luckily, Widline had a good option. She was able to participate in the Making My Way Home program, an innovative project of the Metropolitan Atlanta Youth Opportunities Initiative (MAYOI) that offers substantially subsidized apartments for youth transitioning from foster care who are at risk of becoming homeless. "For most of these youth, housing has been an inconsistent issue," says Mischellette Yisrael, the Making My Way Home case manager at Nicholas House, Inc., in Atlanta. "The program offers stability to young people at risk of being homeless and provides an opportunity for them to focus on other areas of their lives."
Finding safe and affordable housing remains a huge issue for young adults who lose their place to live when they age out of foster care at 18. Initiative data from Opportunity Passport™ participants who completed surveys shows that of those in care, less than a third reported that they had a housing plan leading to safe, stable, and affordable housing. Unfortunately, that number didn't change over time – with 30 percent reporting no housing plan when they first completed surveys in 2002 and only 31 percent reporting no housing plan when they completed surveys in 2006. Several sites have interpreted this finding to mean that many young people do not know they have a plan. These sites are currently working with their state agencies to make needed modifications to policy and practice.
The picture is different for youth out of care. Overall, Opportunity Passport™ participants out of care reported that their housing was in a safe neighborhood (78% when surveys were first completed in 2002 and 84% when surveys were completed in 2006), stable (68% in 2002 and 71% in 2006), and affordable (73% in 2002 and 72% in 2006).
The data also show a great majority of participants reported that they have access to transportation to work or school (91% when surveys were first completed in 2002, and 90% when surveys were completed in 2006).
In response to the dire need for housing options for youth leaving care, Tyronda Minter, MAYOI program officer, came up with the idea for Making My Way Home, which has become a national model. In addition to MAYOI, the partners are Nicholas House, DeKalb County Department of Community Development, and the Housing Authority of DeKalb Authority. The county subsidizes a portion of the rent for youth who are homeless or who are at serious risk of becoming homeless. Youth can stay in the program for two years and pay 30 percent of their income toward their own housing. For instance, Widline pays $170 a month for a nice two-bedroom apartment for herself and Alelia, now 2. She works as a cashier at the airport and the rent break enables her to save money in her matched savings account through the Opportunity Passport™. Widline also attends Atlanta Tech for training as a medical technician. She plans to use her Opportunity Passport™ savings for rent money. "Making My Way Home has helped me have a home," says Widline.
The goal of Making My Way Home is to provide the youth with safe and decent housing coupled with strong self-sufficiency counseling and service coordination that leads to overall self-reliance and independence. The program aims to "graduate" participants who are more self-sufficient, such as being able to pay the full cost of their rent, have clean credit reports, obtain GEDs and who are ready to own their own homes.
Young adults in Making My Way Home receive individualized case management and service plans through Nicholas House, a nonprofit that helps homeless families achieve self-sufficiency. In addition, they receive group coaching and counseling through required monthly meetings and personal counseling during one-on-one home visits and inspections.
To date, 10 young people are enrolled in the program. They have received housing subsidies, adult education services, resources from community service providers; financial literacy education and matching Individual Development Accounts. A donor to The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta provided a grant to support case management. The grant has leveraged more than $35,000 in cash and in-kind resources. For example, participants have received almost $60,000 in direct housing subsidies, furniture donations, and food. In addition, the Initiative paid travel expenses for staff from four different partner agencies to attend the Black Administrators in Child Welfare Conference in early March so they could lead a national workshop session about Making My Way Home before an audience of 70 people.
Queenyona Boyd
Making My Way Home has helped change the lives of the 10 youth in the following ways:
- Two youth are working towards their GEDs.
- Four youth are attending college.
- One participant started his own business related to youth advocacy.
- One youth transitioned from working part-time at a fast food restaurant to a full-time professional, salaried position.
- Another participant has transitioned from working in fast food jobs to being employed as a landscaping sub-contractor with the state Department of Transportation.
Queenyona Boyd, 25, enrolled in Making My Way Home in February 2008. She has been in foster care – kinship care and a group home – since she was five. Now she has a cozy two-bedroom apartment for herself and her four-year-old daughter and pays her share of $78. "Before where I was staying, I wasn't able to let my daughter go out and play outside," says Queenyona, who is majoring in business at Clayton State University. "Now, we have a playground and a grassy area out front, and she can play outside. It's home."
