The overarching goal of the outreach program is to reduce the number of unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness in Baltimore County by assisting them to secure and sustain housing.  The outreach team makes every effort to locate stable housing for youth, but opportunities are very limited.  The Baltimore County Government recently created a new agency of Housing and Community Development that is committed to expanding services for unaccompanied homeless youth.

The outreach program collaborates with an array of partners to assist youth in securing sustainable, long-term housing. This includes referrals to the Foster Youth Initiative/Family Unification Program through the Baltimore County Department of Housing and Community Development, referrals to the Baltimore County Continuum of Care Permanent Supportive Housing waitlist, referrals to rapid rehousing programs, applications for Residential Rehabilitation Programs through the Baltimore County Core Service Agency and applications for Project Based Vouchers through the Baltimore County Department of Housing and Community Development. However, affordable and permanent housing is often hard to obtain and frequently waitlisted in Baltimore County.  As such, the outreach program alternately makes referrals to temporary housing programs in an effort to provide some level of immediate stability.

Programs that are Unaccompanied Homeless Youth-specific are often the most successful when serving this population. The outreach program has found that youth have a difficult time adjusting to programs that are not built to address their unique needs. All of the homeless shelters in Baltimore County are designed to serve the adult population and do not have the capacity to provide intensive and individualized services to youth. 

FY23: The annual target percentage for providing youth with services to obtain housing stability is 90 - 100%. During FY23, a total of 98% or 105 of 107 youth were provided with services to obtain housing stability. This number includes all clients that were offered or connected to a service that impacted future housing stability, such us: securing vital documents, referrals to education/vocational training, employment applications, submitting apartment applications, being placed in a shelter or transitional housing, obtaining a housing voucher, referrals to subsidized housing lists, and completing applications for RTA mobility or receiving RTA mobility, etc. All the services listed help a client get closer to housing stability.

FY22: The annual target percentage for providing youth with services to obtain housing stability is 90 - 100%. During FY22, a total of 100% or 95 of 95 youth were provided with services to obtain housing stability.