Affordable-for-Youth Housing: The Journey Home
Summary
In 2025, Covenant House committed to develop 500 units of affordable-for-youth housing (AFYH) models in multiple cities in the United States and Canada, including Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Oakland, St. Louis, Toronto, and Vancouver by the end of 2030. Covenant House will purchase and renovate small to medium-sized buildings, allowing youth residents, ages 16-25, a chance to recover from homelessness and over time, contribute to the prevention of chronic adult homelessness. Modeled after existing Covenant House AFYH programs in Los Angeles, this project will offer critical benefits that large developments cannot replicate. Youth thrive in environments where community is personal, where staff know them, and where trust can be established. Smaller housing communities reduce feelings of institutionalization and increase opportunities for relationships with mentors and support staff, including a dedicated community manager. They also allow services, including mental health services and counseling, to be more tailored, responsive, and trauma-informed, which is essential for youth who have faced instability.
Approach
Over the next 5 years, Covenant House International will develop 500 units of Affordable for Youth Housing (AFYH) models in at least six cities in the U.S. and Canada. Covenant House will purchase and renovate small to medium sized buildings, allowing not only the first set of residents a chance to recover from homelessness, but countless generations of residents, actively contributing to the prevention of chronic adult homelessness.
The utilization of private funding for this initiative will provide the advantage of speed and efficiency. While Covenant House will also leverage limited public funding avenues, this initiative will avoid the pitfalls often associated with projects that are predominantly publicly funded: One example is the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, a key financing tool for affordable housing. Covenant House’s experience developing 24 units of AFYH in Michigan illustrates this challenge. To create a competitive LIHTC application, organizations are often forced to scale the project up to at least 50 units, significantly driving up project costs and stretching the timeline from 2–3 years to 5–6 years. These increased costs and delays undermine the urgency and specificity needed to serve youth in crisis. LIHTC is geared toward large-scale developments with predictable revenue streams – criteria that don’t align with small, service-intensive housing for youth with extremely low income.
In contrast, smaller-scale projects, exemplified by the first two Covenant House AFYH programs already operating in Los Angeles and this initiative, offer benefits that often cannot be achieved in large developments. Youth thrive in environments where community is personal and where trust can be built over time. Smaller housing communities reduce feelings of institutionalization and increase opportunities for meaningful relationships with mentors and support staff. They also allow services to be more tailored, responsive, and trauma-informed, which is essential for youth who have faced instability.
Action Plan
Year One: Open drop-in center in Dallas to anchor AFYH rollout; open 25 AFYH units in Boston; explore/add additional AFYH units among existing affiliates in Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ontario (aiming for 131-152 by 2030) ; launch Boston Catalyst Committee to assist with new efforts there; start engaging with community partners in Boston and Dallas re: wraparound services; identify and begin to track success metrics including outcomes in housing, school, job retention.
Year Two: Open additional AFYH units in new locations (25 in Dallas and 25 in Boston) ;explore/add additional AFYH units among existing affiliates in Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ontario; ongoing engagement with community partners in Boston and Dallas re: wraparound services; ongoing program data collection and evaluation including quarterly data review.
Year Three: Open additional AFYH units in new locations (25 in Dallas and 25 in Boston) ; explore/add additional AFYH units among existing affiliates in Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ontario; ongoing engagement with community partners in Boston and Dallas re: wraparound services; ongoing program data collection and evaluation including quarterly data review.
Year Four: Open additional AFYH units in new locations (20 in Dallas and 25 in Boston) ;explore/add additional AFYH units among existing affiliates in Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ontario ; ongoing engagement with community partners in Boston and Dallas re: wraparound services; ongoing program data collection and evaluation including quarterly data review.
Year Five: Open additional AFYH units in new locations (20 in Dallas) ; explore/add additional AFYH units among existing affiliates in Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ontario; ongoing engagement with community partners in Boston and Dallas re: wraparound services; analyze results of pilots in high-need cities over past 5 years, including tracked outcomes in housing, school, and job retention to scale successful models.
Background
In the Voices of Youth Count report researched and compiled by Chapin Hall from 2015-2017 and affirmed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, in their 2023 Preventing and Ending Youth Homelessness report, each year, more than 3.5 million young adults ages 18-25 in the U.S. experience homelessness (this number increases to 4.2 million when 13-17 year olds are included) . They’re couch-surfing, sleeping in shelters, or navigating life on the streets. Some were pushed out by family rejection, others aged out of foster care with nowhere to go. Many are LGBTQ+, Black, or Indigenous–youth who have historically been failed by the systems meant to protect them.
Transitional housing options are short-term and often do not lead to permanent homes. Rent for “affordable” apartments is out of reach and most housing support programs are not built with young adults in mind, having requirements young people can’t meet: job history, savings, and a credit score.
A Covenant House International study of 564 youth who exited transitional living programs in 15 U.S. cities over 12 months found that 73% transitioned to stable housing and 69% were employed or in school. The Covenant House Affordable for Youth Housing (AFYH) model is intended to provide a vital safety net for youth who are not able to secure stable housing and who have exhausted all available financial aid.
Covenant House redefines AFYH based on six core principles: rents are set to an estimated 33% of an individual’s full-time household income, even at minimum wage; living environments are independent, with no mandatory on-site support services; no enforced term limits, but the expected duration is three to five years; a space that is clean, safe, and dignified, and allow youth to focus on personal growth; a community-oriented environment fosters belonging and responsibility; and units that are available to all youth who have faced homelessness.
Progress Update
Partnership Opportunities
Funders: Covenant House is seeking organizations and individuals to invest in the effort to build 500 AFYH units over the next 5 years, including $40M for 100 AFYH units in Boston and $18M for 95 units in the Dallas area.
NGOs and government partners: Covenant House knows it cannot end youth homelessness alone and as such, local implementing partners, including Covenant House affiliates, are essential to help support youth with any needed wraparound services, to help build community support, and to partner on implementation.
Media support: Covenant House is seeking national and local media to help amplify impact stories, data, and elevate the importance of AFYH in communities.
Topic expertise: Covenant House is partnering with Chapin Hall, a research and policy center focused on improving the well-being of children, youth, and their families, and seeks additional, similar partnerships to elevate evidence-based solutions to ending youth homelessness.,Over the next five years, Covenant House will develop and assess an affordable-for-youth housing model made up of various types of developments and implementations to help inform every U.S. city’s strategy to end youth homelessness.