New program gives NYC's youth cash to prevent homelessness

A first-of-its-kind program in New York City is trying to keep at-risk young people stably housed by giving them a one-time cash payment to keep them from becoming homeless.

Point Source Youth , a national organization trying to end youth homelessness, helped launch the cash transfer program in the city with two local nonprofits earlier this year. The goal is to help 100 young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 avoid entering the shelter system by providing one-time payments ranging from $645 to $9,900 that they can use to pay overdue rent or find new living arrangements.

“It gives autonomy to that young person. It gives them access to the cash to then pay the arrears to remain in the apartment. And it shows that young person, that they're trusted with the amount of money they need to solve the problem,” said Larry Cohen, Point Source Youth's executive director and co-founder.

“We see that unmet flexibility leads to young people being not served well because the program doesn't exist that they actually need,” he added.

Cohen hopes the program can be scaled up across the city as one of the solutions to curbing rising homelessness rates. The city’s shelter population is at a record high , largely fueled by the arrival of new migrants, while the number of people sleeping on the street reached a 15-year peak this year. But the number of shelter beds set aside specifically for young people has remained stagnant for years and homeless advocates say the city’s main shelter system isn’t set up to meet the needs of young adults.

Chantella Mitchell, a program officer at the New York Community Trust , believes the cash transfer program can help young people avoid the shelter system in the first place.

“You can intervene with the amount of assistance that they need before it becomes, ‘Oh, we have to now pay for the shelter costs,’” she said. The New York Community Trust, a prominent charitable group in the city, is helping fund advocacy efforts around the cash program, to help participants detail their experiences and help influence future policy.

“This is absolutely much more cost-effective than both shelter costs as well as all of the other costs that an individual and that our public systems incur when someone does experience homelessness,” Mitchell said.

So far, 42 young people have received an average of $4,100 in one-time payments that are privately funded. Of those, 19 youth who were surveyed remain housed a month after receiving the cash payment, Cohen said. He said participants have used the money to pay broker’s fees and past due rent; cover moving, pet care, child care, internet or utility costs; or find new apartments.

Cohen said Henry Street Settlement , a social services agency, and The Door , a youth-focused nonprofit, identify young adults for the program and work with them to come up with a housing plan and to determine how much money they need and how best to spend it.

“It prioritizes trusting young people to know what they need — and in the process, we’ve learned a great deal about how to effectively meet the needs of young people at risk of becoming unhoused,” said Emily James, a community advocate at Henry Street.

Cohen said most of the youth participating in the program are Black, Indigenous or people of color and about a third are LGBTQ — groups that are disproportionately affected by homelessness. Many young people also have informal living arrangements with friends or acquaintances and aren’t officially on a lease, which can make it hard to access the city's existing safety net programs.

Mitchell said she’s hopeful the cash transfers will help elevate young people's distinct needs.

“Their voices will be heard, their experiences will be amplified. And people will see that homelessness is solvable, it is preventable and here's just one of the ways that we can do that,” she said.