For young adults with nowhere to go after foster care, federal program offers hope

Leibrynn Russell doesn’t know where in Allegheny County she’ll be living soon, but she knows it will be in a house and not on the streets — a place where a quarter of the 20,000 teenagers who age out of the foster care system each year will end up within four years.

Russell, 21, is a recipient of a housing voucher through the Foster Youth to Independence Initiative, a program that helps teenagers and young adults who are aging out of the foster care system with nowhere to go.

“I did not have the resources — I did not have the means to live on my own, especially coming out of foster care because I had no family,” Russell said. “I had no one to really support me or to lean on for finances, for education, for many different things. This program has helped me in getting the basic needs that I hadn’t met just with housing.”

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development launched the initiative a year ago Friday, and Secretary Ben Carson visited McKees Rocks for the anniversary to talk with U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, local affordable housing officials and young people who have received help through the program.

“Think about yourself when you were 18, if somebody had just sort of put you out and said, ‘You’re on your own now,’ ” Carson said. “How would your life have gone? In many cases, it probably would not have gone very well at all.”

In Allegheny County, the Housing Authority has received $42,000 to provide housing to seven local young people, including Russell, who is in the process of moving. She’s not sure yet where her voucher will land her.

Russell called the program a stepping stone for young people.

“Ever since this program, I’ve been able to spread my wings,” she said. “I’ve been able to get a higher education. I’ve been able to find myself and been able to do what I need to do to succeed in life.”

Toomey expressed his gratitude for the program, noting foster youth often have few, if any, resources when they leave the system.

“For many, there’s a significant vulnerability about their financial security, their housing security, and this program is meant to address that directly,” he said. “What we heard today … is that it’s off to a very, very strong start.”

Carson said he fast-tracked the program in 2019 after meeting with a group of foster youth.

“I really heard their stories and the heartache and the anxiety that existed in their lives,” he said.

Foster youth are eligible if they’re about to leave foster care, could become homeless and are under 25. Pregnant youth or young people who are parents also are eligible.

As of last month, HUD had provided more than 600 housing vouchers through the program, which works with public housing authorities. The assistance is provided for up to three years or until the person turns 25.

“The young are the inheritance of our great nation, and they represent our future,” Carson said. “Programs like (Foster Youth to Independence) are really an investment in the future. I’m proud to see some of the fruit that has been produced.”