Partnership to combat youth homelessness shows immediate results

Written by Piper Stege Nelson

SAFE has the honor of partnering with an array of impressive community partners. From law enforcement, to healthcare providers, to other nonprofits – we are committed to working with other agencies to ensure that our community services are as effective as possible.

One of our exciting new collaborations involves two community organizations: LifeWorks and Caritas of Austin. As part of the Youth Rapid Rehousing Plus Program that launched in October of last year, this HUD-funded initiative helps homeless youth (aged 18 – 24) and their children move quickly from homelessness into safe permanent housing in the community.

To date, SAFE has housed 12 youth-led households. One of the greatest successes so far is that the average time from program enrollment to permanent housing is only 18 days for SAFE clients, and only 19 days across the entire collaboration.

We are truly achieving our goal of rapidly moving young adults out of homelessness and into permanent housing. We look forward to serving at least 30 households per year, and to working collaboratively with participants to help them expand their positive support networks, increase their access to income and resources, maintain their safety, and achieve their personal goals.

Together with these housing organizations, SAFE is working to find solutions to the debilitating issue of youth homelessness. In just over a month, the collaboration has already identified over 300 youth experiencing homelessness in Central Texas and are working jointly to connect these youth with housing and other wrap around services.

This collaboration and its already impressive impact shows why community agencies must work together to address people’s needs. Click here to read more about the collaboration.