Towards a National Housing Strategy for Homeless Youth

This policy brief, "Towards a National Housing Strategy for Homeless Youth", is part of a series developed by the Hollywood Homeless Youth Partnership (HHYP) to advance policy and practice recommendations focused on preventing and ending youth homelessness. This brief emerges from "No Way Home: Understanding the Needs and Experiences of Homeless Youth in Hollywood", a report released by the HHYP in November 2010 presenting findings from a multi-method needs assessment conducted with 389 homeless youth ages 12 to 25 in the Hollywood community.The purpose of this brief is to address the inadequacies of prioritizing permanent housing as the only solution for homeless youth, identify the major limitations of our existing housing programs, and advocate for developing a national housing strategy and funding a full housing continuum for homeless young people that is responsive to their unique needs and circumstances. This brief is being released at a time of unprecedented interest in the issue of youth homelessness -- we hope it will inform federal and local planning and decision-making and help advance our national agenda of preventing and ending youth homelessness