WEST PLAINS, Mo. – Ozark Action, Inc. (OAI) is now an official administrator of a housing voucher program aimed at youths exiting the foster care system.
The Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) initiative targets housing assistance to young people that are aging out of foster care and who are at extreme risk of becoming homeless. Eligible youth may be referred to the program through public child welfare agencies and Continuums of Care.
The Howell County Public Housing Agency, which is operated by Ozark Action, Inc., received approval to administer the program during the Missouri Balance of State Continuum of Care (MO BoS COC) meeting on June 2. The Memorandum of Understanding among the Howell County PHA, MO BoS COC, Missouri Department of Social Services Children’s Division (DSSCD), Preferred Family Healthcare of Springfield, and the Central Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association, Community Connections Youth Project (CMFCAA) was signed in full on July 9. Approval was given to the Howell County PHA by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on July 26.
The program provides public housing agencies with 25 vouchers per year to house those aging out of their local foster care system. Eligible youth must be at least 18-years-old and not more than 24-years-old; left foster care, or will leave foster care within 90 days in accordance with a transition plan; and is homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Youths must also meet other qualifications that are applicable to HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program to qualify.
Other benefits with the FYI program include basic life skills training, housing counseling, employment training, and education and career advancement services with community partners. “The goal of foster care is reunification with the birth family, however, that outcome is sometimes not possible for a variety of reasons,” said OAI Housing Division Director Ed Button. “Unfortunately, there are youths in the foster care system across the state and some 23,000 across the nation that will not find their forever home this year and will exit the system with nowhere to go.”
Button added that roughly 20 percent of foster youth will become homeless the day they age out of the system. “The FYI initiative will help local youths transition into adulthood and equip them with skills that they will need to succeed.”
“The program also helps save money,” Button stated. “According to the Annie E Casey Foundation, if foster youth who age out of the system had the same outcomes as youth who are reunited or adopted, US taxpayers would save around $4 billion.”
Button added that getting the Howell County PHA those specialty vouchers became a personal goal for him after he discovered the program. “I found out about the FYI initiative in December 2020. As soon as I found out about the program, I started working on getting it off the ground in our local area. The foster care system is a topic near and dear to my heart: my wife and I adopted our four children from foster care and we also fostered four other children since becoming licensed foster parents in 2017. I’m ecstatic that we can now help older local youths transition into adulthood in a safer and more stable manner.” Enacted in July 2019, the FYI program is administered in over 20 states, including the state of Missouri.
Youth wanting more information on the usage of the FYI vouchers should contact their case worker. If you are another area resident looking for rental assistance, or if you are a landlord who would like more information on the HCV program, call Ozark Action at 417-256-6147, visit www.oaiwp.org/housing, or email HUD@oaiwp.org.
