About YHDP
HUD, its federal partners, and youth with lived experience of homelessness designed the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) to drastically reduce the number of youth experiencing homelessness, including unaccompanied, pregnant and parenting youth.
What YHDP Requires:
- Communities must bring together a wide variety of stakeholders, including housing providers, local and state child welfare agencies, school districts, workforce development organizations, and the juvenile justice system.
- Communities must convene Youth Action Boards, comprised of youth that have current or past lived experience of homelessness, to lead the planning and implementation of the YHDP.
- Communities must assess the needs of special populations at higher risk of experiencing homelessness, including racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ youth, parenting youth, youth involved in the foster care and juvenile justice systems, and youth victims of human trafficking.
- Communities will create a coordinated community plan that assesses the needs of youth at-risk of and experiencing homelessness in the community and addresses how it will use the money from the YHDP grant, along with other funding sources, to address these needs.
- Communities may propose innovative projects and test new approaches to address youth homelessness.
YHDP in Ohio
In 2016, the COHHIO Youth Housing Initiative and the Ohio Balance of State CoC partnered with several local providers and key stakeholders to secure a $2.2 million federal grant aimed at implementing innovative methods to end youth homelessness in Athens, Vinton, Meigs, Jackson, and Gallia counties.
In 2018, the team partnered with local providers and key stakeholders to secure $1.5 million of federal YHDP funding to prevent and end youth homelessness in Columbiana, Carroll, Tuscarawas, Jefferson and Harrison counties (Ohio Balance of State Homeless Planning Region 6).
In 2022, the team partnered with local providers and key stakeholders to secure $5.2 million of federal YHDP funding to prevent and end youth homelessness in Wood, Ottawa, Sandusky, Seneca, Erie, Huron, and Richland counties (Ohio Balance of State Homeless Planning Region 2); Brown, Adams, Pike, Lawrence, and Scioto (Region 3); Portage, Geauga, Lake, Ashtabula, and Trumbull (Region 5); Coshocton, Fairfield, Holmes, Knox, Licking, and Muskingum (Region 9); Marion, Hancock, Hardin, Wyandot, Putnam, and Crawford (Region 11); and Butler, Warren, and Clermont (Region 14).
COHHIO will serve as the lead agency, collaborating with local partners to operationalize coordinated community plans and implement new projects to prevent and end youth homelessness in Ohio.
In addition to Balance of State YHDP communities, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Cleveland, and Akron are YHDP cities and more information about their youth systems can be read in their Coordinated Community Plans.
Coordinated Community Plans
Montgomery County Coordinated Community Plan
Franklin County Coordinated Community Plan
Hamilton County Coordinated Community Plan
Ohio BoSCoC Region 6 Coordinated Community Plan
Ohio BoSCoC Region 17 Coordinated Community Plan
Resources
HUD: Fact Sheet
HUD: YHDP FAQs
HUD: YHDP COVID FAQs
HUD: CoC and ESG Virtual Binders
Westat: Round 1 Ohio Balance of State YHDP Evaluation Webinar 2019
CoC Program Environmental Review Resources
Youth Action Board Resources
Building a YHDP Planning Team Webinar Slides
Ending Youth Homelessness: Building Blocks of a Youth System Webinar
COVID-19 Homeless System Response: Paying People with Lived Experience and Expertise
Youth Compensation Challenges and Solutions
Guide to Authentic Youth Leadership and Collaboration
True Colors – Youth Collaboration Toolkit
A Way Home America – Youth Collaboration Toolkit
Youth Collaboration 102 Roadmap
Youth Engagement Toolkit
Youth Leadership Toolkit
Youth Collaboration Tools and Tips
Foster Club Youth Leadership Toolkit
YHDP Funded Communities
