Street Sense Media: After reforms to D.C.’s foster youth voucher process, more people leave care for stable housing

Katie Doran from Street Sense Media reports on the availability and utilization of Family Unification Program (FUP) vouchers by youth aging out of foster care, and the potential for the District to draw down another type of voucher to help more youth and families get stably housed.

While advocates celebrated improvements to the FUP process in the last few years, they also said many young people still face obstacles while trying to access housing through the vouchers.

After a young person collects all of their information and fills out a complicated application packet with their support team, their application goes to DCHA. According to DCHA answers to oversight questions in February, the average time between DCHA receiving a completed FUP application and the applicant leasing an apartment is 254 days. More than eight months.

It takes an average of 102 days for DCHA to reach an eligibility decision after an application is submitted, 42 to 43 days for a youth to be issued a voucher after being deemed eligible, and 109 days after a voucher is issued for a youth to sign a lease.

The lengthy process means some young people may age out of foster care while still waiting to get into their FUP housing.

“Although our clients were able to apply for FUP vouchers, most of them did not obtain housing through FUP before they aged out of care,” Tami Weerasingha-Cote, policy director for the Children’s Law Center, wrote in testimony for the January CFSA oversight hearing. “Most frequently, our clients aged out while their FUP applications were pending or waiting to lease up after they had been approved for a voucher.”