YOUNG ADULTS EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS

WLT is dedicated to identifying and reconnecting disadvantaged young people who are young parents, young adults experiencing homelessness, not in education or employment, and young adults in prison or jail through programs that help them discover meaning, develop purpose, build a clear future for their lives, live fulfilled lives, and make an impact in the community.

Early young adults, ages 18-25, are among WLT’s priority populations.WLT identifies early young adults, ages 18-24, who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness, helping them discover meaning, develop purpose, build a clear future for their lives, transition from homelessness into permanent supportive housing, live fulfilled lives, and make an impact in the community.

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines homelessness as people staying in:

• Emergency shelters (ES).ES “provides temporary or nightly shelter beds to homeless persons.”(AHAR 2025)
• Transitional housing programs (TH).TH “provides homeless people with a place to stay combined with supportive services for up to 24 months.” (AHAR2025)
• Safe havens (SH).SH “provides private or semiprivate temporary shelter and services to people with severe mental illness and is limited to serving no more than 25 people within a facility.” (AHAR 2025)
• Unsheltered locations such as staying in cars, on the street, or in encampments. People who experience homelessness are “lacking a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.”

The ES, TH, SH, and unsheltered locations are SLEEPING LOCATIONS FOR CURRENTLY HOMELESS PERSONS. (AHAR2025).

PERMANENT HOUSING ASSISTANCE includes:

Rapid Rehousing (RRH): “a housing model designed to provide temporary housing assistance to homeless persons, moving them quickly out of homelessness and into permanent housing”(AHAR 2025)

Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH): “a housing model designed to provide housing assistance (project- and tenant-based) and supportive services on a long-term basis to people who were homeless when they entered the program and are now considered formerly homeless. HUD’s Continuum of Care program, authorized by the McKinney-Vento Act, funds PSH and requires that clients be eligible. (AHAR 2025)

Other Permanent Housing (OPH): “a housing model, with or without services, designed specifically for formerly homeless people. OPH does not have a disability requirement.” (AHAR 2025)

Homeless Individuals:

“Refers to people who are not part of a family with children during their homelessness (i.e., the person is not homeless in a household with at least one adult and at least one child under age 18). Individuals may be single adults, unaccompanied children, or in multiple-adult or multiple-child households.”

Homeless Families with Children:

“Refers to people in households made up of at least one adult age 18 or older and one child age under 18 that were homeless together on the night of the point-in-time count. (AHAR2025).

According to the 2025 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR)released to Congress by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), “7 percent of the homeless were young adults aged 18 to 24. People between the ages of 35-54 make up almost half of the total number of unsheltered homeless persons (49%).”

Homelessness In The District of Columbia

According to a report by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) highlighting results from the annual Point-in-Time (PIT) count conducted by area jurisdictions and homeless services providers in January 2025, the District of Columbia had the largest decrease in homelessness from 5,616 in 2024 to 5,138 in 2025, and down by 478 people, equivalent to a 9 percent change.

“The PIT count provides a one-day “snapshot” of individuals in the region who are: unsheltered and living on the streets, including parks, alleys, and camp sites; staying in an emergency hypothermia shelter or haven; living in transitional housing where they receive supportive services designed to help them move into some form of permanent housing; and those no longer experiencing homelessness and are now living in permanent supportive housing or other permanent housing.” (mwcog.org).

DC Housing Programs for Individuals at Risk or Experiencing Homelessness.

The District of Columbia provides “temporary and permanent housing programs to families experiencing or at risk of homelessness.” These programs include:

• Family Re-Housing Stabilization Program (FRSP): “The Family Re-Housing Stabilization Program (FRSP), also commonly known as Rapid Re-Housing (RRH), offers time-limited rental assistance and supportive case management to help families move from shelter to housing.”
• Transitional Housing: Transitional housing programs are supportive housing programs that are temporary but designed to be an intermediate step between emergency shelter and permanent housing.
• Permanent Supportive Housing: “Targeted Affordable Housing (TAH) provides a permanent rental subsidy to households who need assistance obtaining and affording housing – often due to their age or a disabling condition. Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) is an evidence-based intervention that combines housing assistance through a permanent rental subsidy with voluntary supportive services to address the needs of chronically homeless individuals or families.
• Career Map: “The District’s Career Mobility Action Plan (Career MAP) is a groundbreaking pilot designed to remove barriers that families with low income confront as they pursue employment that can sustain their families.”

WLT focuses on homelessness prevention, intervention, and provision of transitional and permanent housing for:

Parenting Youth: They include“people under age 25 who are the parents or legal guardians of one or more children (under age 18) who are present with or sleeping in the same place as the youth’s parent, and there is no person over age 24 in the household.”

Parenting Youth Household: This is a “household with at least one parenting youth and the child or children for whom the parenting youth is the parent or legal guardian.”Unaccompanied Youth (18-24): “are young adults in households without children who are not part of a family with children or accompanied by their parent or guardian during their episode of homelessness.”Through programs focused on homelessness prevention, intervention, and transitional and permanent housing, the District provided vital, targeted services to hundreds of Transition Age Youth (ages 18 to 24) over the last year – including the addition of daily transportation services through the District’s shelter hotline and increasing the geographic footprint of youth-focused street outreach services.

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