Getting Started with Foster Youth to Independence
Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) Mondays in August
Mondays in August are for FYI! Join the National Center for Housing & Child Welfare, ACTION Ohio, and the Youth Law Center as we brighten up your summer with five inspiring sessions to share success stories and answer questions about the FYI program so that in the Fall, every community will be ready to join the 400 communities nationwide who provide this platform for economic success to youth aging out of foster care. Each session will offer ample time for audience members to ask questions and solve cases. Registration are links below.
Webinar 1: Overview and Updates
Date: August 3, 2026
Time: 1-2:30 EST/ 10-11:30 PST
Topic: Overview and Updates
Link to the PowerPoint Slides (in pdf form) click here
As we approach the "dog days of summer," please join us for an overview of HUD's youth-written Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) Initiative. This first in a series of five webinars will provide an overview and an update regarding recent HUD guidance (Notice PIH 2026-19) governing the eligibility, distribution, and administration of the vouchers. Public housing and child welfare practitioners, participants, and original authors will share success stories, tips to overcome any barriers to implementation, and strategies for using the vouchers to achieve self-sufficiency.
Webinar 2: Public Housing Authority Partnerships and Preparation
Date: August 10, 2026
Time: 1-2:30 EST/ 10-11:30 PST
Topic: PHA Partnerships and Preparation
Link to the PowerPoint Slides (in pdf form): click here
Please review this PPT to learn more from about the Public Housing Authorities in HUD's youth-written Foster Youth to Independence Initiative. Our guests, Wayne Pollard of Tarrant County, Texas who has been administering HUD’s Family Unification Program for families and youth for nearly 30 years and Allison Rettker Pearce and Kristen Lobb of Jefferson County, Colorado who have been administering FYI since its inception in 2019 will share their wisdom. This second webinar in a series of five will cover how to prepare youth for a successful application to the PHA and how partners can best work together to prepare youth to lease up quickly and thrive in their housing. PHA Housing Choice Voucher administrators from across the country will join the call to share their perspective and tips for success as we implement PIH 2026-19.
Webinar 3: Ways for Life and Coupling Vouchers with Independent Living Strategies
Date: August 17, 2026
Time: 1-2:30 EST/ 10-11:30 PST
Topic: Coupling Vouchers with Independent Living Strategies
Registration: LINK
As the "Dog Days of Summer" approach, please join us to learn about the role of private non-profits in delivering employment and educational services to youth in HUD's youth-written Foster Youth to Independence Initiative. This session will feature FYI participants and Pam Bress, founder and executive director of WAYS for Life in partnership with the Housing Authority of Brevard County will share success stories, tips to overcome any barriers to implementation, and strategies for using the vouchers to achieve self-sufficiency. We will provide an emphasis upon what child welfare practitioners can do to provide the kinds of independent living services that will get youth in a position that they are ready to rent before they are referred to the PHA. Attendees will have ample time for questions.
Webinar 4: HUD's Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) Program as a Platform for Economic Empowerment
Date: August 24, 2026
Time: 1-2:30 EST/ 10-11:30 PST
Topic: Leveraging the FSS Program for Young People
Registration: LINK
Please join us to learn about the Family Self Sufficiency Program and its role in HUD's youth-written Foster Youth to Independence Initiative. This fourth in a series of five webinars will provide an overview of the FSS program and the governing regulations, which allow young people to extend their voucher by 2 years if they are involved in the FSS program or engage in similar activities. Public housing FSS Coordinators and child welfare Independent Living Coordinators, and youth who have participated in FSS will share success stories, tips to encourage financial literacy and savings. We will also share information on how all of this fits together with Trump Accounts/Fostering the Future Accounts. There will be ample time during each session to answer questions and solve cases.
Webinar 5: The Future of FYI
Date: August 31, 2026
Time: 1-2:30 EST/ 10-11:30 PST
Topic: The Future of FYI
Registration: LINK
As the summer draws to a close, please join us to celebrate HUD's youth-written Foster Youth to Independence Initiative and make certain that your community has the information and tools to offer this opportunity to all youth who are involved in transition planning as they age out. This session will include invited guests from HUD and HHS who oversee the Housing Choice Voucher Program and the Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood Act. Panelists will be prepared to answer any questions on FYI in light of HUD's latest Notice PIH 2026-19. There will be ample time for attendees to ask questions and solve particular cases.
Since 2013, the FSHO Coalition, led by ACTION Ohio, has worked in partnership with the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare, elected officials including foster youth champions, and Reps. Turner and Bass, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to study how to knit existing federal programs together to eliminate the gaps through which foster youth fall into homelessness.
The FSHO Coalition discovered that the best way to eliminate gaps is to synchronize existing programs such as HUD’s Family Unification Program (FUP), with the predictable nature of emancipation (the date a young person leaves state custody). HUD leadership agreed and created the Foster Youth to Independence Program to do exactly that.
First, FYI extends HUD’s Family Unification Program to all non-FUP PHAs, thus extending FUP to youth across the US - an extraordinary shift in American social policy.
FSHO allows all local Public Housing Authorities to provide an “on-demand” FUP voucher that is timed with a young person’s emancipation from foster care. In this way, existing federal resources can be knitted together and used as a platform for economic success.
Currently, FYI is available for all PHAs capable of administering Section 8 vouchers. If your PHA currently administers FUP, the lease rate must be at least 90%. To find your PHA FUP lease-up rate, visit HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher Dashboard here. Before doing any of this we recommend that PCWAs look at their caseloads to determine and forecast the number of youth that would be eligible and in need of an FYI voucher before reaching out to your PHA.
Here are the steps you can follow to engage your PHA:
Complete a (draft letter) from a PCWA to the PHA to schedule a meeting about FYI implementation. Print out a copy of HUD’s FYI notice for yourselves and the PHA. Click here to view the most recent FYI Notice (published October 6, 2020). This letter explains that each agency will have to agree to certain responsibilities to take advantage of FYI. This is simply a tool to ensure that DSS properly supports youth and it is a “cut and paste” from Chafee so funding these services should not be a problem.
Arrange a meeting (we always say take your PHA to lunch) between the agency directors.
Complete an MOU or a letter of agreement. Click here for a sample letter of agreement.
Once the letter is signed, PHA notifies HUD via email that they would like to implement FYI. This email serves as an application.
Wait for notification from HUD that they are approved. HUD is aiming to respond to applications within no more than 60 days of receiving the request for a tenant protection/FYI voucher for a youth!