New York Foundling- Supportive Housing

OVERVIEW

NYF Youth Enhancement Services (YES) is a supportive housing program created to stabilize housing opportunities and provide supportive services for young adults who have aged out of foster care.

The program accommodates twenty-five young adults on their journey to independence. Tenants are housed in apartments located in the Flatbush, East Flatbush, and Crown Heights areas of Brooklyn, New York. The program goals are to ensure housing stability in a supportive environment based on positive youth development principles that recognize and build on the clients’ strengths. Collaboration between Tenants and staff maximize educational and employment opportunities to enable clients to achieve self-sufficiency to ultimately transition from the program into independent living and integration into the community.

Tenants are required to pay a portion of their rent as they share the comfort of a furnished apartment with an apartment mate. Each Tenant has a private bedroom and shares living, dining, and bathroom quarters.

ELIGIBILITY

All applicants must be:

- between the ages of 18-25 years of age

- preparing to leave or recently having left the foster care system (must have been in the foster care system for one year or more after their sixteenth birthday)

- at risk of street homelessness or sheltered homelessness and in need of supportive housing

- employed or have a source of income

- upon acceptance, contribute 30% of income toward rent

Eligibility of an individual into the program is determined by the Human Resource Administration (HRA) upon electronic submission of a New York City Supportive Housing Referral Application. The application can be completed on the applicants’ behalf by case managers, outreach workers, shelter or drop-in staff persons, or designated NYF staff. Once the application has been completed and submitted, approved applications for this housing program will be forwarded to Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) who will then be responsible for referring eligible applicants to NYF for a housing interview. Once an applicant has been accepted for this program they will be notified via letter or phone. The applicant will then have one week to accept or decline the selection.

SUPPORTIVE SERVICES

Tenants collaborate with a NYF Social Worker to develop a comprehensive service plan. Each service plan addresses areas of independent living and includes clearly stated goals and action steps. Some of the areas of independent living are interpersonal development, education/ training, employment, financial literacy, health and wellness, and housing. Progress will also be recorded on the service plan. This Service Plan will be created during your first month in the program and will be reviewed every six months.

Social Workers will directly provide the following services:

- Case Management

- Crisis Intervention

- Apartment Safety Inspections (Facilities Manager)

- 24/7 On-Call Staffing

- Facilitate Apartment Mate Collaboration

- Advocacy and Referrals

Case Management creatively engages Tenants in services, ensuring program flexibility to accommodate work and school schedules and Tenants’ changing needs over time. Services are based on positive youth development principles that recognize and build on strengths. When support is needed beyond the scope of this program, the Social Worker will help to identify community resources and/ or make a referral to an outside agency.