How can Washington better help young people who are homeless? Listen to their stories

Each year, about 1 in 4 young people in Washington state face a housing crisis within a year of leaving foster care, criminal justice facilities, or behavioral health institutions.

The crisis for those between the ages of 12 and 24 means they sleep in emergency shelters, on the streets, in cars, in other unsafe or unstable places, or they “couch-surf,” moving from one place to another.

Angel Mullen is among them. Growing up in Tacoma in the foster care system, Mullen said she was taken out of homes and group homes after suffering sexual abuse.

“My transition from foster care into homelessness was hard. I walked into not just a society but a world I didn’t know how to live in on my own. I had no means to pay bills and to do what every adult was able to do. But I learned how to adjust and to be a member of society,” she said.

Mullen, 23, shared her experiences Friday as the state Office of Homeless Youth discussed recommendations for how to ensure that young people get safe and stable housing when they leave publicly funded systems of care. If they don’t get it, those who are between 12 and 24 years old are more likely to experience chronic stress and trauma, state research shows.

In Mullen’s case, it was the outreach team from Comprehensive Life Resources, a nonprofit mental health agency in Tacoma, that made the difference.

“They helped me with finding housing and teaching me the skills I would need to become successful in life, and without them, I don’t know what I would do,” she said.

The report by the Office of Homeless Youth recommends several steps the state can take to ensure safe and stable housing for young people when they are released from publicly funded systems of care.

Action already has been taken on one of them: In his budget proposal this year, Gov. Jay Inslee included $1 million for transitional housing beds for 16- and 17-year-olds.

Data from Pierce and Spokane counties found that in 2014, nearly 700 youth in detention had no parent willing or able to pick them up. “Yet there are limited housing options for minors younger than age 18,” the report states.

The Office of Homeless Youth is seeking $1 million to $3 million in the two-year budget that begins in 2021 to expand its program that provides rental assistance and case management to those from 18 to 24 years old.

Sixty-eight percent of young people participating in this housing program move on to long-range housing. Community-based organizations sub-lease to young people, removing barriers to housing such as criminal records, lack of credit, rental history, and other factors.

As young people leave foster care, criminal justice facilities, and behavioral health institutions, the state needs to a better job of helping them make that transition, the report states. That includes teaching skills such as budgeting, obtaining credit, cooking, and household and car maintenance.

Donte Marcy talked Friday about his transition from being a member of the Hilltop Crips gang, shuttling between the homes of his mother and father, selling marijuana, robbing a bank at the age of 15, which landed him in Pierce County’s juvenile detention center, to devoting himself to his religious faith.

“God removed all the bad people out of my life. They all went to jail. I’m still here, which is like standing in the fire and God protected me from the flames,” he said.

The experiences that Marcy and Mullen shared with state officials are crucial in designing systems of publicly-funded care like foster care and criminal justice, said Kim Justice, executive director of the Office of Homeless Youth.

“We don’t always design systems around the people who are being served and a lot of the stories illustrated how young people see themselves, what they see for themselves, and what they need to make that possible. We need to listen more to that,” she said.

Marcy, 22, now is selling real estate and his goals include spreading the message of his church, the Champions Centre, to facilities that house juvenile offenders.

“When they get out, we can follow up with them heavy and give them a community that’s going to love them,” he said.

Mullen is working in Tacoma on the leadership team of the Mockingbird Society, a nonprofit group that works to improve foster care and end youth homelessness, and she has an apartment. She wants to become a social worker.

“Being a social worker is something that I’ve had an eye on for a while. I know that I could be one of the good ones,” she said.

This story was originally published February 15, 2020 at 5:45 AM.