In October 2018, the Mayor of San Francisco, in collaboration with Tipping Point Community, launched the Rising Up campaign to halve homelessness among people ages 18 to 24. To reach its goal, the program intended to provide rapid re-housing to 500 young people and prevent homelessness through problem-solving interventions for an additional 450.

We spoke with young people housed by the Rising Up program to learn about their experiences. Overall, young people found safety and stability in their housing, saying this was their primary goal for enrolling in the program. Young people also identified positive relationships with staff, opportunities for employment, and improvements in overall well-being as a result of participation in the program. However, young people were also concerned about the affordability of units the program placed them in and whether they would be able to afford housing at the end of the program. Findings on the experiences of young people in Rising Up may be useful for multiple audiences, including funders, policymakers, and nonprofit service providers interested in or already supporting similar rapid re-housing programs for young people.

Read the full article about unhoused youth by Samantha Batko, Abigail Williams, and Amanda Gold at Urban Institute.