Background:

Overview of the Independent Youth Housing Program.

Created by the Legislature in 2007, the Independent Youth Housing Program (Program) is administered by the Department of Community, Trade & Economic Development (DCTED) for the purpose of providing housing stipends and case management services to youth, ages 18 to 23, who have exited the state dependency system. In creating the Program, the Legislature identified two primary goals:

ensuring that all youth exiting the state dependency system have a decent, appropriate, and affordable home in a healthy, safe environment to prevent these youth from experiencing homelessness; and

reducing the percentage of young people eligible for state assistance upon exiting the state dependency system.

The Program is integrated and aligned with other state rental assistance and case management programs as well as with all existing services and programs designed to assist foster youth transition to independent living, including the Independent Living Program and the Transitional Living Program. The Program must be included in the state's Homeless Housing Strategic Plan and any other state or local homeless or affordable housing plans. The Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) must collaborate with the DCTED to provide information about the Program to dependent youth and to refer dependent youth nearing the age of 18 to the Program. The DSHS must also provide information to the DCTED regarding the number of youth exiting the state dependency system eligible for state assistance and annually recommend strategies to the Legislature that may help reduce this number.

Eligible Youth.

Eligible youth are defined to include those who:

are at least 18 years of age but less than 23;
were legal dependents of the state in the month before his or her eighteenth birthday;
have an income that does not exceed 50 percent of the area median income, unless they agree to participate in a matched savings for asset accumulation program (such as an Individual Development Account program); and
comply with other eligibility requirements established by the Department.

Priority is given to youth who have been dependents of the state for at least one year.

Program Administration.

The DCTED is authorized to contract with organizations to distribute housing stipends and provide housing-related services to youth. Services must include the development of an independent living plan, case management, information and referral services, and education on tenant rights and responsibilities.The DCTED must establish a formula to determine the amounts of the housing stipends. Stipends must be based on factors including age, income, fair market rent for the area, and other housing and living situation variables.Stipends must be used for "independent" housing, which cannot include accommodations with, or in premises owned by, former foster parents or biological parents. Stipends are payable to landlords or other housing management.Evaluation and Reporting Requirements.

The DCTED must include a program report in the state's Homeless Housing Strategic Plan and any other relevant state and local plans. These reports must include annual evaluations of subcontractor organizations and specific performance measures.The Washington State Institute for Public Policy is required to measure the outcomes for youth participating in the program and issue a final report by December 2010.

Summary of Bill:

Subcontractors participating in the Program are authorized to use program monies to pay for professional mental health services, as well as tuition costs for court-ordered classes and programs, provided the subcontractor determines that these expenditures are necessary to assist a participating youth in accessing and maintaining independent housing.

The current program eligibility criterion requiring that the youth must have been a dependent of the state during the month before his or her eighteenth birthday is broadened to include youth who were state dependents at any time during the four-month period before his or her eighteenth birthday.

Security deposits and first and last month's rent stipends provided to a participant in the Program must be payable only to a landlord or a manager of any type of independent housing.