What Is the Fund?

Access to a safe, stable home and compassionate, personalized support can make a world of difference for anyone in a crisis. For youth and families at risk of or experiencing homelessness, stable housing and culturally appropriate support can change the trajectory of their future.

For 20 years, the Washington Youth & Families Fund has been our state’s most important resource for driving innovative and equitable solutions to meet the unique needs of youth and families experiencing homelessness. Administered and led by Building Changes, the Fund combines public and private dollars to support organizations and tribes that have built trust in their communities and can nimbly and effectively assist youth and families with culturally appropriate services.

How the Fund Works

• Building Changes tests promising strategies and bold new approaches for serving youth and families experiencing homelessness by distributing funding through grant awards to direct service providers across the state.
• Building Changes supports grantees to improve and expand their services. We work closely and flexibly with grantees to provide technical assistance, training, and peer learning opportunities to increase staff capacity and advance tailored programs.
• Building Changes collects data and evaluates funded interventions, models, and programs to address crises across geographic areas in both urban and rural communities.
• Building Changes advocates for more funding to expand the Fund’s reach and scale up effective, equitable, and holistic solutions.

A Targeted, Equitable Solution to Youth and Family Homelessness

• The Washington Youth & Families Fund specifically serves youth and families, who are often ineligible or deprioritized in traditional homeless and housing programs. BIPOC and LGBTQ2+ youth and families are not only disproportionately represented in the homeless population, but they need culturally appropriate and affirming support that caters to their identities and experiences.
• The Washington Youth & Families Fund serves youth exiting systems of care (such as foster care, juvenile detention, or behavioral health facilities) to access the skills, education, and employment needed to be stably housed. In 2021, more than 1,000 young people experienced homelessness one year after exiting a system of care. Youth exiting systems of care need targeted housing and support services, so they don’t exit into homelessness. Safe, stable homes lay the groundwork for youth and young adults to reintegrate into their communities.
• The Washington Youth & Families Fund supports effective, equitable solutions like Diversion and flexible funding. Diversion is a practical, common-sense approach that can help people get housed quickly and simply. It centers on creative problem-solving conversations that providers have with youth and families to generate person-centered solutions. It also includes light case management to reduce barriers and flexible funding that can be used to cover emergent needs that are typically not provided in other homeless and housing programs.
• Investment in funding targeted longer-term housing support models through the Washington Youth & Families Fund has seen in a steady increase in exits to permanent housing for youth and families, from 47% in FY2020 to 67% in FY2023.