The city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County are taking part in a 100-day Challenge to end youth homelessness.
The team, represented by city and county agencies and non-profits, met for the first time last week in Texas with representatives from the two other participating cities — Austin and Los Angeles.
And Cleveland has set a goal to house 100 young adults in 100 days.
The team taking part in the challenge is specifically looking at youth between the ages of 18 to 24 that have or are about to leave the foster care system.
Kate Lodge is the project director of a Place 4 Me, an initiative looking at ways to help homeless unaccompanied teens and young adults. She says they are looking at creative ways to find funding.
Lodge says recently the US Department of Housing and Urban Development approved one-point-nine million dollars for rapid rehousing dollars to help this age group in Cuyahoga County.
“So we are going to have a resource to help with the down payment on rent and several months of rent,” said Lodge. “But we have to find a lot of landlords. So the housing group is looking for landlords to do that. Then care coordination is very important to navigate who can help with those young people currently homeless navigating to employment services.”
Lodge says another goal is to be more proactive by creating systems to identify those aging out of foster care and help them find stable housing before they end up in a shelter.