HUD announces 28 additional Family Unification Program vouchers for Rhode Island

"This grant provides housing assistance to youth with a history of foster care involvement who are homeless or at risk of homelessness..."

HUD Regional Administrator Juana Matias

Rhode Island's congressional delegation and officials from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD] announced housing vouchers on Monday to serve vulnerable youth and families in Rhode Island.

“We're here to announce 28 new housing vouchers that will help youth and families under HUD's Family Unification Program," said HUD Regional Administrator Juana Matias at the RIHousing press conference. "This grant provides housing assistance to youth with a history of foster care involvement who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, and whose family's lack of adequate housing is a primary reason their child is in foster care. Congratulations to Carol Ventura and Rhode Island Housing and all of the partners involved for securing the only Family Unification Program vouchers in this state."

Rhode Island, continued Matias, is "one of only 13 communities across this nation to have received this funding and we all know it was no easy feat. A recent Zillow report showed the cost of rent has risen in Providence over the past year more than anywhere else in the country. And thanks to all of the work [RIHousing] put into this application and the work you do every day, we are one step closer to keeping families together and providing the stability and security of housing for youth and families who need it most."

The speaking program was emceed by Peter Asen, Director of the HUD Rhode Island Field Office. No questions were taken from the press, instead, politicians answered questions from individual reporters inside and outside the room. Here's the full video, followed by direct links to all the speakers:

• 00:35 Juana Matias, Regional Administrator, HUD

• 05:18 Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee

• 07:55 Senator Jack Reed [Democrat, Rhode Island]

• 11:47 Representative Seth Magaziner [Democrat, Rhode Island]

• 15:23 Representative Gabe Amo [Democrat, Rhode Island]

• 18:11 Stefan Pryor, Secretary, Department of Housing, State of Rhode Island

• 23:25 Carol Ventura, Chief Executive Officer, RIHousing

• 26:19 Ashley Deckert, Director, Department of Children, Youth & Families [DCYF]

RIHousing released the following executive summary:

Opportunity:

RIHousing, a public housing authority, submitted an application to HUD for an award of Family Unification Program vouchers in July 2023. The Family Unification Program (FUP) is a program through which public housing authorities (PHAs) partner with Public Child Welfare Agencies (PCWAs) to provide Housing Choice Voucher (HV) assistance coupled with supportive services to two groups:

1. Families for whom the lack of adequate housing is a primary factor in the imminent placement of the family's child, or children, in out-of-home care; or the delay in the discharge of the child, or children, to the family from out-of-home care: and

2. Youth aged 18-24 who left foster care, and some youth aged 16 or older who will leave foster care within 90 days under a transition plan and are homeless or are at risk of becoming homeless

There is no time limit on FUP vouchers issued to families. As required by statute, FUP vouchers issued to youth are limited to 36 months, unless a youth meets the requirements to receive an extension of assistance. Extensions may be granted up to an additional 24 months.

RIHousing developed its application in coordination with the Department of Children Youth and Families (DCYF), Family Service of Rhode Island (FSRI), Foster Forward, and the Rhode Island Statewide Continuum of Care (RICoC). RIHousing requested up to fifty FUP vouchers, the maximum amount that a PHA of RIHousing's size was eligible to request.

Partnership Commitments:

Through this application, RIHousing and DCYF committed to establish and maintain a collaborative oversight structure to promote and provide assistance to achieve the following goals:

• Ensure that eligible, identified, families and youth are provided opportunities to acquire FUP housing subsidy and obtain and maintain housing.

• Ensure that eligible, identified, families and youth are provided opportunities for DCYF-funded services they need to support resolving their housing instability and promote basic life skills and self-sufficiency services;

• Empower families to advocate for their children with schools, public and private agencies, and other community institutions;

• Initiate and sustain methods that identify housing and related family problems as early as possible and engage clients in a change process to manage or remedy these problems;

• Ensure that eligible families referred due to housing instability as a primary reason for potential child welfare involvement and who receive a FUP voucher are diverted from opening a Family Court supervised case by DCYF for child abuse/neglect issues;

• Ensure that eligible families referred due to housing instability as a primary barrier and who receive a FUP voucher to achieve reunification have their child(ren) reunified with them after attaining housing and can close an existing Family Court supervised case initiated by DCYF for child abuse and neglect reasons within 6 months of attaining housing; and,

• Ensure that eligible youth referred who receive a FUP voucher can maintain their housing for the full duration of the FUP voucher.

To support eligible households in prompt utilization and maintenance of their FUP voucher, the following supports will be available from FSRI and Foster Forward:

• Housing Search Assistance

• Financial assistance in the form of moving assistance, utility arrears, and/or security deposits

• Post move counseling

• Case management and referrals and connections to mainstream services

• Life skills and financial literacy education

• Connection to health care and services

DCYF will be the primary referral partner for the FUP. DCYF committed to establish and implement a system to identify FUP-eligible families and FUP-eligible youth within the DCYF's caseload and to review potential FUP Families and Youth identified by RIHousing and RICoC to inform potential referral to the FUP. DCYF also committed to the provision of the supportive services described above to FUP youth and families; these supportive services must be offered to FUP youth for at least 36 months and FUP families for the duration of their enrollment in the FUP.

The RICoC will utilize its Coordinated Entry System to identify, prioritize, and refer youth who are potentially FUP-eligible and who are not currently within DCYF's active caseload for possible referral into the program.

RiHousing will accept referrals from DCYF, process eligibility for the FUP, and administer the program under all established program rules and regulations. Additionally, RIHousing will reach out to all FUP participants about its existing Family Self Sufficiency Program, which couples case management and service coordination with an asset development opportunity to incentivize increases in earned income among other self-sufficiency outcomes.

Need:

At the time of application, the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) reported 160 youth and families known to the department as potential FUP referrals. Concurrently, there were 73 youth households ages 18-24, experiencing homelessness or at risk of experiencing homelessness identified and assessed by the RICoC.

Rhode Island has historically had FUP within some of its PHAs, including RIHousing, however over time those vouchers have been absorbed by other housing authorities, and/or the households ended their participation in the program. Therefore, traditional FUP vouchers have not been available in the state for several years.