The DC Line: Recent reforms are helping DC distribute unused vouchers for foster youth

Annemarie Cuccia of The DC Line reports on federally funded housing vouchers for people leaving foster care and facing homelessness that go unfulfilled and how a new DC law, Preserving Our Kids’ Equity Through Trusts (POKETT) Amendment Act of 2022, is being implemented to ensure every young person who needs a voucher gets one. 

The federal government funds thousands of Family Unification Program (FUP) vouchers nationally. The housing vouchers are available both for young people aging out of foster care at 21 and for parents who want to reunite with their children in foster care but need stable housing to do so. 

Sharra Greer, policy director at the Children’s Law Center, shared similar frustrations earlier this year about the difficulty of obtaining accurate information: CFSA had denied the majority of people her organization helped apply for FUP vouchers, and she didn’t know why.

(Photo credit: Will Schick/Street Sense Media)