Every year, 4.2 million young people and families experience homelessness in American communities. One in five young adults experiencing homelessness also experiences trafficking. We must invest in programs that strengthen families, stabilize young people, and ensure that no one experiences homelessness.

The bipartisan Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act (RHYTPA) (S.3125/H.R.6041 in the 118th Congress) reauthorizes and updates the federal Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA). RHYA funds community-based organizations to provide housing and supportive services to young people in need, prevent them from experiencing trafficking and identify and serve those who have, and connect them to education, employment, and stability.

Key components of RHYTPA

  • Prioritizing outreach to survivors of sexual abuse, exploitation, and/or trafficking to connect them to supportive services.

  • Requiring staff training on human trafficking, trauma, sexual abuse, and assault.

  • Extending transitional housing and supportive services to survivors of sexual abuse, exploitation, and trafficking.

  • Allowing grantees the option of applying for an additional $75,000 to provide services to prevent young people and families in their community from experiencing homelessness.

  • Extending the allowable length of stay in short-term crisis housing for minors from 21 to 30 days (or longer as state law allows).

  • Increasing the eligible age for transitional housing services from 22 to 25 years old, while still prioritizing youth under 22 years old.

RHYTPA Prevents Human Trafficking and Serves Survivors

Nearly one in five youth experiencing homelessness has also experienced trafficking for sex, labor, or both. This is especially prevalent among unsheltered youth—the Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 24 percent of youth living on the streets exchanged sex for money, and an additional 27.5 percent did so for a place to stay.

Providing our young people with housing, basic necessities, and supportive services can prevent them from being exploited and can support those who, tragically, have already been. For over 50 years, RHYA providers have been at the forefront of ending trafficking in American communities. RHYTPA strengthens their ability to prevent human trafficking and serve survivors.

Preventing and Ending Youth Homelessness Will End Chronic Adult Homelessness

The experience of homelessness as a young person can have severe long-term consequences, negatively impacting an individualʼs ability to maintain stable housing as an adult. Cities across the country that have conducted surveys of their chronically homeless adult constituents found that many of them first experienced homelessness as a young person. Across studies, 25 percent first experienced homelessness before the age of 18, and an additional 25 percent first experienced homelessness between the ages of 18 to 24.

This data highlights that the experience of homelessness for many chronically homeless adults first began when they were under the age of 25. Knowing this, it becomes clear that increasing investments in housing and support services that target young people aged 25 and under are necessary to prevent and reduce chronic adult homelessness.

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