Authority Receives Grant To Help Young Adults Out Of Foster Care

CONCORD, NH — Two housing authorities in New Hampshire have recently received grants to assist young adults in foster care into housing in an effort to avoid homelessness.

The U.S. Housing and Urban Development issued $19,970 to the Keene Housing Authority and $7,080 to the Concord Housing Authority as part of the department's Foster Youth to Independence initiative which seeks to provide housing assistance and supportive services to young people with a child welfare history who might be at risk of or experiencing homelessness, according to David Tille, HUD's regional administrator.

The grants will be used to help the young adults reach self-sufficiency by working toward their education and employment goals. More than 20,000 young adults age out of foster care in the United States each year. Approximately 25 percent of those individuals fall into homelessness within four years of leaving foster care.

"Our thanks to the Concord Housing Authority for putting this new program to work for our youth," said Tille. "The foundation of a stable life is stable housing and this initiative allows local housing, working with child welfare agencies and homeless planners, to focus this housing assistance to those young people who need it most. No young person who grows up in foster care should experience homelessness once they set out on their own."

The housing authorities, Tille said, will administer the programs, enter into partnerships with child welfare agencies, accept young adults into the program, and determine eligibility.

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