[House Hearing, 116 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
STRENGTHENING FEDERAL SUPPORT
TO END YOUTH HOMELESSNESS
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON CIVIL RIGHTS AND HUMAN SERVICES
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
AND LABOR
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, JULY 16, 2019
__________
Serial No. 116-34
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and Labor
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: www.govinfo.gov
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Committee address: https://edlabor.house.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
37-320 PDF WASHINGTON : 2021
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COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia, Chairman
Susan A. Davis, California Virginia Foxx, North Carolina,
Raul M. Grijalva, Arizona Ranking Member
Joe Courtney, Connecticut David P. Roe, Tennessee
Marcia L. Fudge, Ohio Glenn Thompson, Pennsylvania
Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, Tim Walberg, Michigan
Northern Mariana Islands Brett Guthrie, Kentucky
Frederica S. Wilson, Florida Bradley Byrne, Alabama
Suzanne Bonamici, Oregon Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin
Mark Takano, California Elise M. Stefanik, New York
Alma S. Adams, North Carolina Rick W. Allen, Georgia
Mark DeSaulnier, California Lloyd Smucker, Pennsylvania
Donald Norcross, New Jersey Jim Banks, Indiana
Pramila Jayapal, Washington Mark Walker, North Carolina
Joseph D. Morelle, New York James Comer, Kentucky
Susan Wild, Pennsylvania Ben Cline, Virginia
Josh Harder, California Russ Fulcher, Idaho
Lucy McBath, Georgia Van Taylor, Texas
Kim Schrier, Washington Steve Watkins, Kansas
Lauren Underwood, Illinois Ron Wright, Texas
Jahana Hayes, Connecticut Daniel Meuser, Pennsylvania
Donna E. Shalala, Florida William R. Timmons, IV, South
Andy Levin, Michigan* Carolina
Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Dusty Johnson, South Dakota
David J. Trone, Maryland Fred Keller, Pennsylvania
Haley M. Stevens, Michigan
Susie Lee, Nevada
Lori Trahan, Massachusetts
Joaquin Castro, Texas
* Vice-Chair
Veronique Pluviose, Staff Director
Brandon Renz, Minority Staff Director
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SUBCOMMITTEE ON CIVIL RIGHTS AND HUMAN SERVICES
SUZANNE BONAMICI, OREGON, Chairwoman
Raul M. Grijalva, Arizona James Comer, Kentucky,
Marcia L. Fudge, Ohio Ranking Member
Kim Schrier, Washington Glenn ``GT'' Thompson,
Jahana Hayes, Connecticut Pennsylvania
David Trone, Maryland Elise M. Stefanik, New York
Susie Lee, Nevada Dusty Johnson, South Dakota
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on July 16, 2019.................................... 1
Statement of Members:
Bonamici, Hon. Suzanne, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Civil
Rights and Human Services.................................. 1
Prepared statement of.................................... 3
Comer, Hon. James, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Civil
Rights and Human Services.................................. 4
Prepared statement of.................................... 5
Statement of Witnesses:
Morton, Mr. Matthew, Ph.D., M.SC., Research Fellow, Chaplin
Hall at the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL............. 7
Prepared statement of.................................... 9
Giovengo, Ms. Melinda, Ph.D., CEO, President of Youthcare,
Seattle, WA................................................ 19
Prepared statement of.................................... 21
Lowery, Mr. Robert, Jr., M.S., Vice President, National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Alexandria, VA.. 28
Prepared statement of.................................... 30
Baker, Mr. David, Support Specialist, YMCA Youth and Family
Services, San Diego, CA.................................... 43
Prepared statement of.................................... 45
Additional Submissions:
Hayes, Hon. Jahana, a Representative in Congress from the
State of North Connecticut:............................
Missed Opportunities: Youth Homelessness In America...... 66
Homelessness In America: Focus On Youth.................. 82
Ending Youth Homelessness................................ 96
Link: Child Well Being................................... 117
Questions submitted for the record by:
Schrier, Hon. Kim, a Representative in Congress from the
State of Washington.................................... 121
Scott, Hon. Robert C. ``Bobby'', a Representative in
Congress from the State of Virginia
Responses to questions submitted for the record by:
Mr. Baker................................................ 124
Mr. Morton............................................... 126
STRENGTHENING FEDERAL SUPPORT TO END YOUTH HOMELESSNESS
----------
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services,
Committee on Education and Labor,
Washington, D.C.
----------
The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 2:19 p.m., in
Room 2175, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Suzanne Bonamici
[chairwoman of the subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Bonamici, Schrier, Hayes, Comer,
Thompson, Stefanik, Johnson, and Foxx.
Also Present: Representatives Scott, and Yarmuth.
Staff Present: Tylease Alli, Chief Clerk; David Dailey,
Senior Counsel; Paula Daneri, Education Policy Fellow; Emma
Eatman, Press Assistant; Christian Haines, General Counsel;
Stephanie Lalle, Deputy Communications Director; Andre Lindsay,
Staff Assistant; Jaria Martin, Clerk/Assistant to the Staff
Director; Richard Miller, Director of Labor Policy; Max Moore,
Office Aide; Jacque Mosely, Director of Education Policy;
Banyon Vassar, Deputy Director of Information Technology;
Courtney Butcher, Minority Director of Coalitions and Member
Services; Bridget Handy, Minority Communications Assistant;
Dean Johnson, Minority Staff Assistant; Amy Raaf Jones,
Minority Director of Education and Human Resources Policy;
Hannah Matesic, Minority Director of Operations; Jake
Middlebrooks, Minority Professional Staff Member; Carlton
Norwood, Minority Press Secretary; Chance Russell, Minority
Legislative Assistant; and Mandy Schaumburg, Minority Chief
Counsel and Deputy Director of Education Policy.
Chairwoman Bonamici. The Subcommittee on Civil Rights and
Human Services will come to order.
Welcome everyone. Our apologies for the delay. We did have
votes on the floor.
I note that a quorum is present, and I note for the
Subcommittee that Mr. Yarmuth of Kentucky is permitted to
participate in today's hearing with the understanding that his
questions will come only after all members of the Subcommittee
on Civil Rights and Human Services on both sides of the aisle
who are present have had an opportunity to question the
witnesses.
The Committee is meeting today in a legislative hearing to
hear testimony on strengthening Federal support to end youth
homelessness. Pursuant to Committee Rule 7(c), opening
statements are limited to the Chair and the Ranking Member.
This allows us to hear from our witnesses sooner and provides
all members with adequate time to ask questions.
I recognize myself now for the purpose of making an opening
statement.
We are here today to discuss our responsibility to provide
every child and youth with a safe and stable environment to
learn and grow. Today, millions of youth across the country do
not have access to a stable home. For many of them, the effects
of homelessness are not isolated to days or weeks or months.
Youth homelessness has long-term consequences that undermine
their education, their safety, and their future.
As our witnesses will establish, youth who do not have
access to the support and resources that come with stable
housing are far more likely to drop out of school, fall prey to
exploitation and human trafficking, and remain homeless as
adults.
In 1974, Congress recognized its responsibility to support
youth who lack a safe and stable home by passing the Runaway
and Homeless Youth Act. Over the last four decades Congress has
repeatedly recommitted on a largely bipartisan basis to fund
the law's programs to make sure that runaway and homeless youth
receive the services they need to transition out of
homelessness and thrive as self-sufficient individuals.
Unfortunately, it has been more than a decade since Congress
updated the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act. Since then, new
research shows that youth homelessness is a public health
crisis that demands a significant and thorough response.
Researchers have found that over a 12-month period more
than 1 in 30 youth between the ages of 13 and 17 and one in 10
youth between 18 and 25 will experience homelessness. One of
the counties I represent in northwest Oregon, Washington
County, has reported cases of youth homelessness in the
thousands.
We also know that factors associated with the significantly
higher risk of youth homelessness reflect the systemic
challenges facing underserved communities including family
conflict, child abuse, and experience with the juvenile justice
and foster care systems. It is no surprise then that some youth
experience homelessness at disproportionately higher rates.
LGBTQ youth, for example, are at a 120 percent greater risk of
entering homelessness compared to heterosexual or cisgender
peers. Racial discrimination also contributes to
disproportionate homelessness among Black and Latino youth.
Black youth have an 83 percent higher risk of experiencing
homelessness than their White peers, and Latino youth have a 33
percent higher risk.
Homelessness can also put youth at high risk for
devastating experiences that can have long-lasting consequences
on their development. Homeless youth are vulnerable to
exploitation and coercion. The data show that one in five
homeless youth are victims of human trafficking. I am going to
say that sentence again. The data show that one in five
homeless youth are victims of human trafficking. One in six are
sexually assaulted or raped.
Homeless youth who experience these unspeakable acts need
comprehensive supports to process their trauma and rebuild
their lives. Our deeper understanding of the causes and factors
surrounding youth homelessness demand an updated approach to
addressing this public health issue.
As this Committee considers a bipartisan reauthorization of
the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, we must make sure that
Federal programs engage and unite family members; approve an
approach to transitioning youth into a safe and stable housing
when it is in the best interest of the child; adopt trauma-
informed practices that support youth whose experiences have
had long-lasting effects on their mental health and well-being;
and, finally, importantly, that they do not discriminate
against youth based on age, race, religion, gender identity, or
sexual orientation.
Including these provisions in Federal programs will help
prevent children from having to experience the uncertainty and
the trauma of homelessness. Today's hearing takes an important
step toward achieving our shared goal of making sure that all
children have access to safe and stable housing that empowers
them to reach their full potential.
And I now recognize the distinguished Ranking Member for
the purpose of making an opening statement.
[The statement of Chairwoman Bonamici follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Suzanne Bonamici, Chairwoman, Subcommittee
on Civil Rights and Human Services
We are here today to discuss our responsibility to provide every
child and youth with a safe and stable environment to learn and grow.
Today, millions of youth across the country do not have access to a
stable home. For many of them, the effects of homelessness are not
isolated to days or weeks or months. Youth homelessness has long-term
consequences that undermine their education, their safety, and their
future.
As our witnesses will establish, youth who do not have access to
the support and resources that come with stable housing are far more
likely to drop out of school, fall prey to exploitation and human
trafficking, and remain homeless as adults.
In 1974, Congress recognized its responsibility to support youth
who lack a safe and stable home by passing the Runaway and Homeless
Youth Act. Over the last four decades, Congress has repeatedly
recommitted--on a largely bipartisan basis--to fund the law's programs
to make sure that runaway and homeless youth receive the services they
need to transition out of homelessness and thrive as self-sufficient
individuals.
Unfortunately, it has been more than a decade since Congress
updated the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act. Since then, new research
shows that youth homelessness is a public health crisis that demands a
significant and thorough response.
Researchers have found that, over a 12-month period, more than one
in 30 youth between the ages of 13 and 17 and one in ten youth between
18 and 25 will experience homelessness. One of the counties I represent
in NW Oregon, Washington County, has reported cases of youth
homelessness in the thousands.
We also know that factors associated with significantly higher risk
of youth homelessness reflect the systemic challenges facing
underserved communities, including family conflict, child abuse, and
experience with the juvenile justice and foster care systems.
It is no surprise, then, that some youth experience homelessness at
disproportionally higher rates. LGBTQ youth, for example, are at a 120
percent greater risk of entering homelessness compared to heterosexual
or cisgender peers. Racial discrimination also contributes to
disproportionate homelessness among Black and Latino youth. Black youth
have an 83 percent higher risk of experiencing homelessness than their
white peers, and Latino youth have a 33 percent higher risk.
Homelessness can also put youth at high risk for devastating
experiences that can have long-lasting consequences on their
development. Homeless youth are vulnerable to exploitation and
coercion. The data show that one in five homeless youth are victims of
human trafficking. One in six are sexually assaulted or raped. Homeless
youth who experience these unspeakable acts need comprehensive supports
to process their trauma and re-build their lives.
Our deeper understanding of the causes and factors surrounding
youth homelessness demand an updated approach to addressing this public
health issue. As this Committee considers a bipartisan reauthorization
of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, we must make sure that federal
programs:
(1) Engage and unite family members--a proven approach to
transitioning youth into safe and stable housing--when it is in the
best interest of the child;
(2) Adopt trauma-informed practices that support youth whose
experiences have had long-lasting effects on their mental health and
well-being; and
(3) Importantly, that they do not discriminate against youth based
on age, race, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
Including these provisions in federal programs will help to prevent
children from having to experience the uncertainty and trauma of
homelessness. Today's hearing takes an important step toward achieving
our shared goal of making sure that all children have access to safe
and stable housing that empowers them to reach their full potential.
______
Mr. Comer. Thank you, Madame Chairwoman, for yielding.
There are few aspects of a child's development as
influential as the home they grow up in. For homeless and
runaway youth, there are devastating dangers and risks that can
compromise their safety and health. Sadly, reports indicate
that in the United States, around 700,000 youth are without
homes. Congress reauthorized the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act
in 2018 which helps continue efforts to prevent childhood
homelessness and rescue youth runaways.
The Runaway and Homeless Youth Act's three main programs
offer crisis intervention, such as temporary shelter,
counseling, and family unification for runaway and homeless
youth. Additionally, the programs support community-based
organizations that provide homeless youth with stable and safe
longer-term housing. The RHYA also funds outreach and education
programs for runaway and homeless youth who have been subjected
to serious trauma, like sexual abuse and human trafficking.
This work is lifesaving for young Americans facing
homelessness.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which
we will hear from today, also helps save and protect missing
youth including runaway youth. The center's work is just one
example of the multifaceted effort to protect youth. By
engaging with corporations, law enforcement, nonprofit
organizations and families, the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children also helps bring kids back home.
Increasingly, children cared for by the state are running away,
ending up homeless.
While we will hear today that there is a better
coordination to help locate these kids and get them back home,
there is more work that can be done. There isn't a simple
solution for youth homelessness. Children leave home for a lot
of reasons. Some run from abuse, but others are lured by
predators looking to harm children. That is why we need to help
the folks on the ground, the people we will hear from today, to
do their jobs.
Our children are this country's most valuable asset. They
are also the most vulnerable in our society. As lawmakers, we
must help protect American youth from homelessness and the
dangers it presents. Today's hearing will give us an
opportunity to learn more about the programs serving our
runaway and homeless youth. I look forward to the testimony
from all of our witnesses.
And I yield back.
[The statement of Mr. Comer follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. James Comer, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on
Civil Rights and Human Services
Thank you for yielding.
There are few aspects of a child's development as influential as
the home they grow up in. For homeless and runaway youth there are
devastating dangers and risks that can compromise their safety and
health. Sadly, reports indicate that in the United States around
700,000 youth are without homes. Congress reauthorized the Runaway and
Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) in 2018, which helps continue efforts to
prevent childhood homelessness and rescue youth runaways.
RHYA's three main programs offer crisis intervention such as
temporary shelter, counseling, and family unification for runaway and
homeless youth. Additionally, the programs support community -based
organizations that provide homeless youth with stable and safe longer-
term housing. RHYA also funds outreach and education programs for
runaway and homeless youth who have been subjected to serious trauma,
like sexual abuse and human trafficking. This work is lifesaving for
young Americans facing homelessness.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC),
which we will hear from today, also helps save and protect missing
youth, including runaway youth. The center's work is just one example
of the multifaceted effort to protect children. By engaging with
corporations, law enforcement, non-profit organizations , and families,
NCMEC also helps bring kids back home. I increasingly, children cared
for by the state are runnier nog away, ending up homeless. Although
we'll hear today that there has been improved coordination among
agencies to help locate these kids and get them back home, there is
still more work that can be done.
There isn't a simple solution for youth homelessness. Children
leave home for a lot of reasons some run from abuse but others are
lured by 1predators looking to harm children. That is why we need to
help the folks on the ground - the people we will hear from today to do
their jobs.
Our children are this country's most valuable asset. They are also
the most vulnerable in our society. As lawmakers, we must help protect
American youth from homelessness and the dangers it presents. Today's
hearing will give us an opportunity to learn more about the programs
serving our runaway and homeless youth. I look forward to the testimony
from all our witnesses.
Thank you, I yield back.
______
Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you very much for your
statement, Ranking Member.
Without objection, all other members who wish to insert
written statements into the record may do so by submitting them
to the Committee Clerk electronically in Microsoft Word format
by 5 p.m. on July 29.
I will now introduce our witnesses. We are fortunate to
have a distinguished panel.
Dr. Matthew Morton is a research fellow at Chapin Hall at
the University of Chicago with expertise in youth homelessness,
youth development, and evidence-based practice. He is the
principal investigator of Voices of Youth Count, the most
comprehensive national research initiative to date focused on
youth homelessness in America. Dr. Morton held previous
positions at the World Bank, the U.S. Government, in
philanthropy, and with youth-serving nonprofits. While working
in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, he was a
key contributor in the development of the U.S. Government's
National Strategy and Framework to End Youth Homelessness.
Dr. Melinda Giovengo -- was I close? Giovengo?
Ms. Giovengo. Close.
Chairwoman Bonamici. Giovengo -- I am Italian. I should
know that, right? -- is Executive Director of YouthCare in
Seattle, Washington. She has 30 years of experience in
developing and implementing reengagement programs for out-of-
school and homeless youth. Melinda holds an M.A. in clinical
psychology and a Ph.D. in educational psychology and is
published on issues regarding youth homelessness and the impact
of learning disabilities in hard-to-serve populations. She is
the board chair of the National Network for Youth and a board
member of the National Youth Employment Coalition.
Mr. Robert G. Lowery, Jr., is the Vice President of the
Missing Children Division at the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children, where he supervises the organization's
response to reports of missing children. Previously, Mr. Lowery
spent more than 30 years in public services as a law
enforcement officer, as the Assistant Chief of Police for the
Florissant, Missouri, police department and as commander of the
Greater St. Louis Major Case Squad, the oldest and largest
multi-jurisdictional homicide task force in the United States.
Mr. Lowery has authored several publications, including an
investigation and program management guide for law enforcement
agencies responding to cases of missing and abducted children,
as well as detailed guides promoting strategies for finding
long-term missing children and appropriate response protocols
for children with special needs who go missing.
Finally, Mr. David Baker is a resident of San Diego,
California, where he is a support specialist for the YMCA Youth
& Family Services Program. As a formerly homeless youth, Mr.
Baker advocates for public policy across the Nation and
represents the boundless potential of underserved youth. He
uses his life experience to guide the creation and
implementation of realistic solutions to social issues like
youth homelessness. His mission is to promote agency, access,
and hope for the most vulnerable populations in society.
Welcome again to our witnesses. We appreciate all of you
for being here today, and we look forward to your testimony.
Let me remind the witnesses that we have read your written
statements. They will appear in full in the hearing record.
Pursuant to Committee Rule 7(d) and Committee practice, each of
you is asked to limit your oral presentation to a 5-minute
summary of your written statement. Let me remind the witnesses
that, pursuant to title 18 of the U.S. Code, section 1001, it
is illegal to knowingly and willfully falsify any statement,
representation, writing, document, or material fact presented
to Congress or otherwise conceal or cover up a material fact.
Before you begin your testimony, please remember to press
the button on the microphone in front of you, so it will turn
it on, and the Members can hear you. And as you begin to speak,
the light in front of you will turn green. After 4 minutes, the
light will turn yellow to signal that you have 1 minute
remaining. When the light turns red, your 5 minutes have
expired, and we ask you to please wrap up.
And we will let the entire panel make their presentations
before we move to member questions. When asking -- excuse me --
when answering a question, please remember to once again turn
on your microphone, and I first recognize Dr. Morton.
STATEMENT OF MATTHEW MORTON, PH.D., M.SC., RESEARCH FELLOW,
CHAPIN HALL AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, CHICAGO, IL
Mr. Morton. Thank you, Chairwoman Bonamici, Ranking Member
Comer, and Members of the Committee for the opportunity to join
this important hearing.
My name is Dr. Matthew Morton. And I am a researcher with
Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. I lead Voices of
Youth Count, the most comprehensive research initiative to date
focused on youth homelessness in America. This research was
designed in response to the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act
through which Congress called for replicable, national
prevalence and incidence estimates of youth homelessness and
data concerning the population's needs and characteristics.
I also have a family background of lived experience. I lost
my parents at a young age and grew up with a great deal of
turbulence at home. I had brief runaway experiences, but I was
lucky. Teachers, coaches, and others saw potential in me. And
they helped me to realize that potential in spite of my
adversities. Others, like my little sister, are not so lucky.
Their adversities escalate to enduring crisis and homelessness,
and many of them remain invisible.
Good data can help make the invisible visible. Evidence can
help us know where and how to make things better for all our
Nation's youth. As long as millions of youth do not live up to
their potential as individuals, we don't live up to our
potential as a Nation.
Chapin Hall's first nationally representative survey of
youth homelessness surfaced alarming conclusions. We found that
1 in 30 adolescents ages 13 to 17 endure some form of
homelessness within a 12-month period. With young adults ages
18 to 25, the prevalence climbs even higher. One in 10 young
adults reported some form of homelessness within a year.
Moreover, the prevalence rates were statistically equal between
rural and nonrural communities. As a share of the population,
youth homelessness is just as much of a problem in rural
America as it is elsewhere.
Our research also shows that not all youth share the same
likelihood of facing homelessness. Youth of color have
significantly higher homelessness prevalence as compared to
their White, non-Hispanic peers. Rates are especially high
among American Indian, Alaska Native youth, and among African
American youth. Our data also show that young people
identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer,
LGBTQ, face 120 percent increased risk of homelessness.
In addition to demographic disproportionalities, certain
experiences indicate increased risk for homelessness. The
single factor that we found most strongly correlated with
higher risk for homelessness among young adults was the lack of
a high school diploma. These young people had more than four
and a half times the risk of homelessness as young adults who
attained at least a high school level of education. Further,
youth experiencing homelessness had disproportionately been in
foster care and had spent time in juvenile detention, jail, or
prison.
Our research also sheds lights on connections between youth
and family homelessness. For one thing, a large share of youth
experiencing homelessness are parents themselves, struggling
with housing instability while caring for young children.
Moreover, nearly all young people link the beginning of their
homelessness to earlier disruptions of family and home,
including family homelessness and entry into foster care.
For youth, homelessness is about more than the loss of
housing. It is about the lack or loss of relationships and
connections that others can rely on more consistently for
support, safety, and stability. In fact, a startling 35 percent
of youth reported the death of at least one parent or primary
caregiver. Housing instability is but one factor that
characterizes their journeys, which are typically shaped by
significant trauma. We can do better. We can take steps to
better respond to youth homelessness and to prevent it. The
Federal Government plays a critical role in supporting data to
inform policy in a broad range of areas.
Likewise, we encourage Congress to consider its role in
enabling the replication of national data on youth homelessness
so that we can track our progress toward the goal of ending
youth homelessness and tailor strategies accordingly.
We cannot end youth homelessness in the dark. Adolescence
and young adulthood are key developmental periods in our lives.
Every day of housing instability represents missed
opportunities to support young people's healthy development so
that they can contribute to flourishing communities. We all
lose out in these missed opportunities.
Thank you.
[The statement of Mr. Morton follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you for your testimony.
Dr. Giovengo, you have 5 minutes for your testimony. Thank
you so much.
STATEMENT OF MELINDA GIOVENGO, PH.D., CEO, YOUTHCARE, SEATTLE,
WA
Ms. Giovengo. Thank you.
Good afternoon, Subcommittee Chair Bonamici and Ranking
Member Comer and Members of the Subcommittee.
My name is Dr. Melinda Giovengo. And for over 12 years, I
have had the privilege of serving as the CEO of YouthCare, one
of the largest providers of youth and young adults experiencing
homelessness services in Washington State. I also serve as the
Board Chair for the National Network for Youth. I am honored to
share testimony today about YouthCare's work and our support
for the reauthorization of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act.
Founded in 1974, YouthCare was one of the first RHYA
shelters to serve runaway and homeless youth on the West Coast.
We currently serve about 1,500 young people each year and
operate a budget of around $17 million. I want to tell you a
little bit about YouthCare's services and why the
reauthorization of the RHY Act is so critical to our mission.
First is our focus on minors experiencing homelessness.
Across the country, States are grappling with a major system
gap: How to support teens who may not meet the threshold of
child welfare and dependency but also cannot return home
safely. YouthCare's RHY shelters and transitional living
program fill that gap in our community. Our first priority is
always family reconciliation. Yet reconciliation takes time.
For this reason, we support extending the length of stay at the
Basic Center from 21 to 30 days or longer if it is permitted by
licensing in the State.
But for a quarter of the youth in our shelters, returning
home will not be an option because of issues like abuse, family
homelessness, or rejection. This is why YouthCare opened a
transitional living program for minors in 1999. We strongly
advocate for expanding these programs so that youth are not re-
traumatized by having to move from shelter to shelter in order
to stay safe.
Second, our focus on trafficked youth. Young people living
on the streets are extremely -- at extreme risk for
exploitation and trafficking. YouthCare requires all of our
staff and all of our employees to attend a 2-day training on
the unique needs of sexually exploited youth and has
specialized case managers that support young people with
histories of trafficking and sexual exploitation.
This is also where outreach comes into effect, where we go
out on the streets and find these young people before others
do.
Third, our focus on LGBTQ youth. LGBTQ youth face a higher
risk of homelessness. In 1998, YouthCare opened a
groundbreaking program for LGBTQ-identified young adults, which
was and remains the only transitional living program for LGBTQ
young adults in Washington State, focused on affirming young
people's gender identity and their sexual orientation.
Last, our focus on at-risk or overrepresented populations.
The YouthCare staff are trained in harm-reduction, trauma-
informed care to provide services for populations most at risk
of homelessness, including young people of color, young people
exiting systems of care, pregnant and parenting youth, and
refugee and immigrant young people.
Neuroscience has shown that young people's brains do not
reach maturation until the age of 25. They are cognitively and
emotionally still in formation. Many youth also lack basic
employment and life skills. For this reason, strategies,
interventions, and outcomes for young people experiencing
homelessness must be different than for adults. RHY is the only
Federal funding source tailored to the unique educational,
socio-emotional, and housing needs of young people experiencing
homelessness. Specifically, RHY's flexible three-pillar model
of outreach, shelter, and transitional housing, maternal group
homes, allows us to progressively move young people across
housing continuums without barriers, such as narrow definitions
of homelessness and permanent housing used by HUD, which is
why, I will just add, it is so important that you also pass the
Homeless Children and Youth Act. Instead, RHY's definition of
homelessness and performance outcomes of safe and stable
housing, permanent connections, education, and employment, and
socio-emotional and well-being enable us to design services and
capture progress through a lens that is age-appropriate and
reflective of generational needs, which brings me to the
reauthorization of RHY.
4.2 million young people in our country are experiencing
homelessness. That number is staggering and unacceptable.
Without targeting intervention, it also represents a pipeline
to chronic adult homelessness, yet lifesaving services are
woefully underfunded. RHY's recent funding was $127 million, a
mere $30 per young person experiencing homelessness. We can end
youth homelessness, but this investment is far from what we
need to do so.
RHY needs a comprehensive reauthorization, which occurred
more than a decade ago, and this must include the
nondiscrimination and gender-affirming language and support for
human trafficking and prevention. YouthCare also supports
changing all RHY grant cycles from 3 to 5 years to ensure
program stability.
Every young person has potential. Unleashing that potential
will start with passing of the reauthorization of the Runaway
and Homeless Youth Act. I have done this work for more than 35
years. It can be hard, gritty, and yet inspiring every day.
What keeps me going without a doubt is that we change lives and
we save lives.
Thank you for letting me share my thoughts, and I look
forward to answering your questions.
[The statement of Ms. Giovengo follows:]
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Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you for your testimony.
Mr. Lowery, I recognize you for 5 minutes for your
testimony.
STATEMENT OF ROBERT LOWERY, JR., M.S, VICE PRESIDENT, NATIONAL
CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN, ALEXANDRIA, VA
Ms. Lowery. Good afternoon, Chairwoman Bonamici and Ranking
Member Comer and Members of the Subcommittee.
My name is Bob Lowery. I am the vice president of the
Missing Children Division for the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children, or NCMEC. It is an honor to be here today
with you to provide NCMEC's perspective on the growing problem
of runaway children and discuss our role in helping to quickly
resolve cases of runaway children and how we bring them home
safely.
As a background, NCMEC was created in 1984 by child
advocates as a private nonprofit organization to help find
missing children and to reduce child sexual exploitation and to
prevent child victimization. Since NCMEC opened its doors, it
has been apparent that the most common reason children go
missing today is because they run away. NCMEC knows that the
runaway crisis is a very real problem, and it creates extremely
dangerous situations for our children.
Over the past 4 years, 91 to 92 percent of all missing
child reports made today received by NCMEC are runaways. The
average age of a runaway reported in NCMEC is 15 years of age,
and more than half of these runaways reported to NCMEC over the
past several years have run three to four times, many of the
children dozens of times.
NCMEC uses modern tools and technology, as well as
personalized case manager attention, to help find each runaway
child reported to us. When we receive a call about a runaway
child, we work directly on an individual basis to provide a
coordinated response tailored to the particular child. We are
child-centric when the reports are made. This approach will
include specialized analytical expertise, technical assistance,
ongoing support to the parent, guardian who are in crisis, the
law enforcement agency responsible for the search and
investigation of what happened to that child, the social
service agencies working to find the child as well.
NCMEC operates a 24-hour-a-day hotline that receives calls
each and every day of the year relating to runaway children.
Our call center is bilingual, and we have access to third-party
interpretation services in nearly 200 languages. We also
operate streamlined electronic reporting for social service
agencies to enable them to quickly report critical information
to NCMEC when a child in foster care runs away.
As part of NCMEC's unique intake process for runaways, we
gather specific information and conduct a risk assessment for
that individual child. This helps us evaluate if the child has
things like social media accounts, which are very prevalent
today, or if they have been communicating with anyone online
who wish to do them harm or suffers from other endangerment,
such as alcohol or drug use; victimization by child sex
trafficking; gang recruitment or enticement; pregnancy or other
medical conditions that raise their risk; and, of course, self-
harm and suicidal tendencies. Over the past 4 years, 72 percent
of the reported runaways suffered from one or more of these
serious endangerments.
While NCMEC treats all reports of runaway on an individual
basis, we have seen significant increases in the numbers of
children who are running from foster care or another form of
State care managed by a social service agency.
The increase came as a result of Congress' enactment of the
Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act of
2014. The new law required for the first time that children
missing from State care be reported immediately to law
enforcement and to NCMEC. We were strong supporters of that law
because it enables NCMEC to provide consistent services to
previously underserved populations of runaway children. Since
the passage of the law, NCMEC reports of children running from
State care have nearly tripled. NCMEC has worked tirelessly
with State and local social service agencies, as well as Health
and Human Services, and our partner nonprofits to create
streamlined reporting systems and educational programs to share
NCMEC's unique expertise and knowledge regarding runaways so we
can best protect them.
As detailed in my written testimony, NCMEC knows our
mission is amplified when we work with public and private
partners to help identify and locate runaway children and bring
them home safely. NCMEC partners with dozens of technology and
social media, retail, and print media companies who help us
distribute current images of the child where we geolocate to
specific targeted areas where the child may be, which increases
our chance of someone in the public recognizing that missing
child and reporting it.
We analyze data on online data so we help determine where a
child may be while, as I say, most of our children now have
social media presence. We glean lots of information about where
they may have gone or who they may be in contact with. We alert
the entire community to ensure that the runaway receives the
same public attention and concern as any other type of missing
child.
As NCMEC enters into our fourth decade of working with
finding missing children, we know there is a lot more that can
be done to help locate and recover runaways and find stable
placements to ensure that they do not fall into the cycle of
repeated runs that have longstanding detrimental impacts on
their health and safety.
NCMEC is fortunate to be joined in this mission by the
Subcommittee and our public and private partners, and we look
forward to continuing in our work with all of you.
Thank you for this opportunity to appear before the
Subcommittee to discuss this very important topic.
[The statement of Mr. Lowery follows:]
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Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you for your testimony.
Mr. Baker, I recognize you for 5 minutes for your
testimony.
STATEMENT OF DAVID BAKER, SUPPORT SPECIALIST, YMCA YOUTH &
FAMILY SERVICES, SAN DIEGO, CA
Mr. Baker. Thank you. Good afternoon, Subcommittee Chair
Bonamici, Ranking Member Comer, and Members of the
Subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me here today to testify
before you.
My name is David Baker. I am a proud Youth Advocacy Council
member with the National Network for Youth and a support
specialist with the YMCA Youth and Family Services Department
in San Diego, California.
I came here from San Diego to demonstrate the potential of
opportunity youth when given the tools and resources and to
express the value and absolute necessity of Federal programs
like the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act. I come from a
background of intergenerational homelessness, which means my
mother was born into homelessness and her mother was also born
into homelessness. So access to stable housing was something
that my family has never known.
The trauma that my mother incurred from her childhood led
her to cope with alcohol and drug use. Unfortunately, it seemed
there was no place for my mother to address her trauma. The
shelter would kick us out for bed rotation at 7 a.m., and it
seemed the liquor stores were open by 9. So I would go into
school knowing that, by the time I got out, my support system
would be broken.
Due to a lack of resources in our area, housing, financial,
and food insecurity, plagued my family until at about 16 years
old I understood that there just weren't enough to meet my
basic needs. And I ran away. Instead of being a burden to my
struggling mother -- and this is an extremely common occurrence
amongst youth where their living conditions are so bad that
they see the streets as a place of opportunity, but what I
found in the street was the opposite of opportunity. I found
the threat of imprisonment, the threat of trafficking, and the
threat of death.
Years went by with no diversion opportunities or support
offered to me, and I found myself couch surfing as a freshman
in college. After hurdling the barriers to receive financial
aid as a homeless student, I bought an old car. And that became
my home. The backseat was my bedroom. The front seat was my
kitchen. And the San Diego County Sheriff was my alarm clock,
waking me up every morning to remind me that my safe place was
temporary.
I completed multiple homeless vulnerability assessments but
came to accept that there just weren't enough housing
opportunities for nonfoster homeless youth. Also, I didn't want
to enter traditional homeless HUD shelters or programs because
of the trauma of my childhood. I knew what to expect there. And
like many homeless youth, I found my car as a safer
alternative.
This living situation continued until I received a call
just a few days before my 22nd birthday from a TLP through the
YMCA. You know, it is amazing to think that if I had just been
a few days older, I would have been led to continue sleeping in
a place that isn't suitable for human habitation. This
opportunity completely changed the trajectory of my life. In
this TLP, I found myself surrounded by trauma-informed
professionals who genuinely wanted the best for me. For the
first time ever, I had a support system that wasn't broken or
toxic or damaging to my life in any way, and I was empowered to
use my experience as a homeless youth to help my peers, which
led to a position within the Y, and today, I facilitate
workshops across San Diego County that teach youth in our Basic
Center, Transitional Living Programs to effectively address
their trauma. These workshops include skills like emotional
regulation, distress tolerance, and thoughtful decisionmaking,
all extremely essential for navigating a life of trauma and
keeping those kids in their homes.
I have also created entrepreneurial workshops for our youth
that feature a comprehensive look at financial literacy and
work readiness. This information was transformative for me, and
I am grateful to be sharing these tools, and it is amazing to
see the resiliency and growth of youth in our programs, but I
know we are just scratching the surface. There are so many of
us who need these programs but just don't have the access
because of the Federal investment being so small compared to
what is needed.
Please know that every dollar that you invest tells a young
person like me that their dreams and their goals matter, and
they are valuable, and they should have the opportunity to
flourish. When you invest in us, our entire society benefits.
And you can see me as a living example of that.
Through programs funded by the Runaway and Homeless Youth
Act, I was given a foundation to build a life of prosperity. I
was given a chance to change my family history forever. Today,
I ask you to please make that a possibility for every youth
because they deserve it. Before, I was a youth in the street
with no resolution in sight. But, today, I am so much more than
that. I am a taxpayer. I am an exceptional entrepreneur. And
last, but certainly not least, I am an advocate.
Thank you all again for allowing me to speak.
[The statement of Mr. Baker follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you so much, all of you, for
your very powerful testimony.
We under Committee Rule 8(a) we will now question the
witnesses under the 5-minute rule and, as Chair, I will start
and be followed by the Ranking Member, and then we will
alternate between the parties.
And I am going to start with Dr. Giovengo. Homeless youth
are at an increased risk for trafficking and sexual
exploitation. A study by researchers at the University of
Pennsylvania and Loyola University found that one in five
homeless youth were victims of human trafficking and girls as
young as 10 years old had been forced into sex trade. Many
children have no way out because their traffickers use physical
force and intimidation to keep them from seeking help.
So how does your organization use staff training -- you
mentioned in your written testimony -- and leverage the
partnerships with local organizations to help identify and
serve victims of trafficking? And how can Congress support
these efforts to protect children and youth from trafficking
and exploitation?
Ms. Giovengo. Thank you.
I want to say that YouthCare was actually started to really
address the issue of sexual exploitation in Seattle, and so we
have always been very aware of the issue in our community.
Currently, we run a program called the Bridge Continuum,
which is exactly what you described as a multidisciplinary,
multi-agency intervention strategy to help young people who
have been trafficked. Through street outreach, through
specially trained advocates, and through partnerships with
trauma informed-care therapists, substance-abuse specialists,
workforce development specialists, we have been able to create
a wraparound service model for these young people. It is not
just a stand-alone model. It is a model that has lived inside
of our runaway and homeless youth programs for 40 years, and we
have actually expanded that in our community and around the
state of Washington in replicating that model in other
communities.
So, I think that it is important for folks to understand
that the Runaway and Homeless Youth Program's Basic Centers,
Outreach, and Transitional Living Programs are our first line
of prevention for these young people who are being trafficked,
and they can be -- and like at YouthCare, all of our staff,
everyone, including my accounting staff, are trained in the
recognition and the services needed for helping these young
people exit the streets and getting into a safe and stable
environment.
Chairwoman Bonamici. Terrific. Thank you so much.
Dr. Morton, currently the two Federal agencies collecting
data on the problems of child or youth homelessness are the
Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department
of Education but counts of homeless youth vary widely across
these two agencies. For example, HUD's Point-in-Time count
identified 168,267 homeless youth in 2017. Yet your study
identified 4.2 million homeless youth.
So how do each of these agencies collect data on youth
homelessness and what definition does each agency use to decide
whom to include in their counts and why is it so important that
the counts of homeless youth include those who are doubled up?
What can Congress do to make sure we are getting the highest
quality data on the prevalence of runaway and homeless youth?
Mr. Morton. Thank you, Chairwoman.
These different counts and estimates serve different
purposes. HUD's counts aren't meant to capture primarily
shelter and street-based homelessness on a specific night.
Education captures reported homelessness over the course of the
year. Both are different forms of capturing homelessness as
they are presented to a system, largely, whereas a nationally
representative survey, like the one we did, does not depend on
the young people that emerge to a system or that are formally
reported or identified visibly in the streets.
This is important because much of youth homelessness is
hidden. We find that young people experience many different
forms of homelessness and housing instability over a period of
time. They can come in and out of homelessness, and this is
different than what we see with older adult chronic
homelessness, for example. To be able to capture that
hiddenness, it is important to capture the full spectrum of
young people's experiences and not just at one point in time,
but over a period of time. And this is why we have taken this
particular approach to complement the data that we get about
young people coming into systems and services through education
and HUD.
Chairwoman Bonamici. Thank you for your work.
I am going to yield back the balance of my time. I
recognize Ranking Member Comer for his questions and --
Mr. Castro. Stefanik.
Chairwoman Bonamici. I recognize Representative Stefanik
from New York for 5 minutes for her questions.
And Representative Hayes is going to take over for me.
I yield back.
Representative Stefanik.
Ms. Stefanik. Thank you, Madam Chair.
I represent one of the most rural districts on the East
Coast. I represent 194 towns and villages. It takes about 5
hours from one side to the other of my district. Homelessness
in rural communities is different, and the resources are
different than homelessness in urban and suburban communities.
So my questions are going to focus on how we can address this
challenge in rural communities and what specific solutions we
have for rural America.
So, first, Dr. Morton, the Voices of Youth Count indicates
that homelessness is almost as common in rural areas as it is
in urban areas, at least for youth and young adults. Can you
tell us if these percentages hold true for other age groups,
and what are some of the unique aspects of helping to provide
services for the homeless and prevention services in rural
communities?
Mr. Morton. Thank you, Congresswoman.
It is a very good question and a very important issue to
highlight. We do find with our data that youth homelessness is
just as prevalent as a share of the population in rural
communities as it is in nonrural communities. Now there are
more youth experiencing homelessness in urban communities
because there are more people living in urban communities. But
as a share of the population, it is just as much of a challenge
in rural communities.
At the same time, it doesn't necessarily look the same in
rural communities as you alluded to. Young people are about
twice as likely to be couch surfing, staying with others in
rural communities, or even more likely to be literally homeless
on the streets or in places not meant for human habitation in
rural communities. They are about half as likely to be staying
in shelters, often because the shelters don't exist. In rural
communities, they are inaccessible, or they are not youth-
specific.
So this underscores the need for much more creative and
resource outreach efforts and working across public systems and
services and community-based organizations that could be coming
into contact with young people.
Ms. Stefanik. Do you or does anyone on the panel have
examples of particularly effective outreach efforts in rural
communities? Because the access is an issue. Transportation is
an issue. You know, hunger in rural areas is an issue, too. And
that is very much tied to the challenge of homelessness.
Does anyone have best practices you would like to
highlight?
Ms. Giovengo. Well, this is Dr. Giovengo speaking.
And I think that one of the things we have seen in
Washington State and some of our rural communities are really
the gathering of local resource providers to kind of create
what I would call a virtual one-stop for young people and
reaching into the schools early and often to make sure that we
are identifying those young people who are experiencing
homelessness.
Obviously, faith-based organizations have stepped up in
many communities. In one community in Washington State, Whidbey
Island, we have a very extensive model of host homes where the
community has gone out and found community providers to help,
community people to actually help house young people in
emergency situations.
So I think that there are unique challenges, but most of it
is getting the information consistently out in places where we
know young people are and even in rural areas, schools probably
are the best way we can reach them early and we need to start
before the crisis hits so that they -- before they drop out,
they know how to get homelessness resources when the crisis
hits.
Ms. Stefanik. And, Mr. Lowery, I wanted to ask specifically
about different protocols or actions taken to help find someone
who goes missing in a rural community rather than if they go
missing in an urban or suburban community.
Ms. Lowery. Well, yes, there are differences in our
approach to that, but, of course, all missing children are
pretty much treated the same. What we look for is we do a risk
assessment anytime a child goes missing and pretty much can
give us an idea of where that child may have gone and
oftentimes, especially with our runaway children, there is a
specific place that they might go or specific individuals they
may be with. Oftentimes, though we find that some of our
children are despondent or may be suffering from some mental
illnesses and things, which does make that challenge much more
challenging for us when it goes to that search.
So, at the National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children, we have protocols for searching rural areas, which is
a different protocol than you would say searching suburban or
densely populated urban areas. So we will send those
representatives on site to work with the sheriff's office or
the local agencies to aid them in the rescue of that child. We
will have them there usually within just a few hours. But for
us, you know, a missing child is a missing child. And they go
missing for a variety of reasons.
The only difference that we do see in rural areas is that
we -- I think every area struggles with resources for these
children, especially after they have been found, and rural
areas, I think, certainly suffer from that phenomena.
Ms. Stefanik. Thank you.
Yield back.
Mrs. Hayes. [Presiding.] Thank you.
I now recognize the Committee Chairman, Mr. Scott, from
Virginia.
Mr. Scott. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
And I want to thank all of our witnesses for being with us
today.
Mr. Baker, you indicated that we need to make investments
in young people to make sure they are not homeless. Exactly
what do you mean? What should we be investing in?
Mr. Baker. I believe just ensuring that these funds are
available for these innovative programs so that the TLPs, the
Basic Centers, and especially those outreach teams, to ensure
that they have everything that they need to get the job done.
Youth homelessness and youth struggle as a whole comes in
many different unique forms, and every single individual's need
is as unique as their character is, so ensuring that the money,
you know, the blood of it is all is available so that these
folks can access these services and overcome their barriers,
whatever they may be.
Mr. Scott. Well, if you find the homeless and provide
emergency services, you still need to do something to deal with
the underlying problem.
What should we be doing, Dr. Giovengo? Do you want to
answer what we should be doing to deal with the underlying
problem?
Ms. Giovengo. Thank you for the question.
I would say that youth homelessness is way more than just a
house and a roof over a young person's head, and we must
address the issue from a 360 perspective. Young people, we will
not end youth homelessness unless we are partnering with the
education and employment systems to get these young people back
on kind of traditional pathways so they can become self-
sufficient. It is very different than an adult who has had life
experiences with housing and jobs.
You know, giving a young person just a place to live is not
enough. We have to be able to provide them with the education,
employment, mental health, healthcare, and really support to
become a full individual and understand what their needs are
and how they can build their own talents and scope moving
forward.
Mr. Scott. You mentioned education. Is on-campus
educational experience one of the solutions?
Ms. Giovengo. I think for some young people it is. I mean,
we run drop-in schools. We also have -- we run a YouthBuild
program is that an employment and training program for homeless
young people. We run prevention services inside of on-campus
educational facilities to help young people stay in school and
help their families from going homeless so they don't lose
schools.
So I think being at all points where a young person can
begin to drop away from mainstream systems is critical in order
to prevent them from ending up in a chronic state of
homelessness.
Mr. Scott. Now, on-campus educational experience would
probably be after high school. What could we do before high
school graduation?
Ms. Giovengo. Well, I think being in those post-secondary -
- being in high schools is critical. Running programs like
National Safe Place in communities, which gives young people
resources when they first think about running away and to
access.
On campus, I do think that we need to address the post-
secondary access to housing. One of the things we see -- and I
have dropped many a young person off at college -- and the
first question they ask me when I start to leave is, where do I
go at Thanksgiving? And you will find young people end up in a
crisis situation at those natural juncture points where they
don't have any place to live and the campus is shut down.
So we have to think about how we are going to support young
people who do not have traditional families and/or friends to
be able to go home to during those break periods and give them
the pocket money and things that we would give our own children
to be able to fit in and be normalized in that situation.
Mr. Scott. When they shut down the campus over
Thanksgiving, that sounds like something we can do, work with
the college to make sure that shouldn't be a problem.
Ms. Giovengo. Absolutely.
Mr. Scott. Are there peculiar challenges when you talk
about parenting, either the child or the homeless older child
who has a child herself? Is that a unique challenge?
Ms. Giovengo. Absolutely.
I mean, to be honest with you, we need more maternal care
group homes for young people, especially for minors who have
children. Right now, there are very, very few places for a 17-
year-old to go with an infant child.
And, just recently, we had a young person that was living
in her car on Monday and, on Tuesday, stayed with a friend and,
on Thursday, was back in her car and had a housing assessment
through the HUD definition and wasn't eligible because she had
stayed with her mom one night and the night before she had been
safe.
So we have to think about how we are preventing young
people from accessing the services, especially these young
families and especially these young women, and I would say that
putting those young parents into adult systems is not helpful,
because you are talking about a child parenting a child, and we
actually have to help the young person who is the parent learn
the skills to be self-sufficient on their own, as well as help
coach them through parenting a very young infant.
Mr. Scott. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Mrs. Hayes. Thank you.
I now recognize the Ranking Member of the Committee, Ms.
Foxx, from North Carolina.
Ms. Foxx. Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Mr. Lowery -- and thanks to all the witnesses for being
here. Mr. Lowery, this hearing is about the Federal Runaway and
Homeless Youth programs. However, in addition to learning about
the work done under these programs, we thought it was important
to highlight the work done to help a child when they are
missing because they ran away.
Can you discuss why it is important to focus on what we do
to help bring the child home as much as on providing services
if they are experiencing homelessness or preventing them from
leaving home in the first place?
Ms. Lowery. Thank you, Ms. Foxx.
And, yeah, I think you are absolutely correct and we agree
that all children, either homeless or runaway, are in crisis,
and we know that it is very important that we intervene as
quickly as we can when that child is reported missing.
We do work with homeless shelters all over the U.S. when a
child goes missing from those shelters, but, in general, we
also work with all runaway children, and every one of those
children are in crisis, and we have to get them back as quickly
as we can. But hence this is where it becomes the issue is
that, while finding the children is something that we do each
and every day, but that is only half the battle. It is keeping
them in those safe places so they are encouraged not to leave
there and they stay in a safe environment, and this is the
challenge that we face each day. And we depend on our partners,
our other NGOs and nonprofits out there that provide services
for these families and these children so that they are
encouraged not to run away and find themselves in harm. As I
testified earlier, many of our children don't run just once.
They run multiple times, and each and every time, we can tell
that with increasing severity of the risks that these children
face.
So we know that we need early interventions, and sometimes
we find that those sources are not always available as we need
them.
Ms. Foxx. Mr. Lowery, I want to follow up. You mentioned
the need to evolve in your work to continue helping to find
missing children. Can you explain this in more detail and share
some examples of what this has looked like over time? And,
finally, what harm can occur if you are not constantly
evaluating and improving your methods?
Ms. Lowery. Yes, thank you, Ms. Foxx. That is an excellent
question.
You know, in our 35 years of existence, you know, we find
that essentially we are constantly evaluating the work that we
are doing. We are evaluating trends because a lot has changed
in those 35 years since we first opened our doors. You know,
the behaviors of children have changed. The behavior of
offenders has changed. We are seeing social media now as
ingrained in our culture as one good example is nearly all of
our children have some social media presence. And while we find
social media to be a wonderful tool and a wonderful part of our
daily lives and it has helped us when it comes to finding,
locating, and recovering children, it also has those that use
that platform for nefarious purposes by luring our children,
engaging them in conversations that are inappropriate, and
eventually convincing those children to go along with them.
We have entered into an age now that we have to be very,
very on guard. We have to learn from those experiences, and we
know as a center that constant evaluation on how we can get
better. So we work with our technology partners that we have at
the national center. We have availabilities of some of the best
in the world that help us with those very issues on how we can
identify those kids.
So, to your point, ma'am, is that, yes, the world has
changed. And we have to stay at our best when it comes to
protecting our children.
Ms. Foxx. And one more question, Mr. Lowery.
Your testimony talked about work being done to prevent a
child from running away again. What are some of the things the
center does to help families keep those children home? Are
there workshops the center puts together for local
organizations and families to help know what to watch for, be
concerned about what may lead to a child running away again?
Ms. Lowery. Yes, ma'am.
Matter of fact, I am very glad you asked that question
because this is something that we pride ourselves in it,
because we know that finding these children is as important as
the prevention work that we must do to keep them safe. Because
if we can keep a child and discourage them from running, we
know that child is going to live a long, prosperous life.
We have discussion guides that have been developed at the
National Center that we share with parents and guardians on
recognizing early warning signs of when a child may be
susceptible to wanting to run away or escape an environment
that may be detrimental to them and what they might do, how it
would intervene with that child. With third parties, they could
engage to help them before that child goes.
As importantly is we have guides that also guides parents
that if the worst should happen, that child goes missing, what
they need to do, and what they really need to do is they need
to report immediately because time is the enemy when children
are missing. And we need to act as quickly as we can and
mobilize to get those children back. Every missing child is
important to us, but keeping them safe is the challenge that we
face each day. There are no waiting periods when it comes to
missing children. We remind parents of that each and every day:
report immediately.
The other thing I want to point out is we have a lot of
online safety guides that protect children when they are using
these electronic platforms, and it is age-appropriate material
that can be found at the web site at the National Center that
can be shared with children, and we share that information also
in schools, with educators, so that children are taught that,
while we have some wonderful things available to us today,
there are some inherent dangers that our children just need to
be aware of and how to avoid them.
Ms. Foxx. Thank you, Madam Chair.
I yield back.
Mrs. Hayes. Thank you.
I now recognize Ms. Schrier from Washington.
Ms. Schrier. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to all of our witnesses. I was so impressed by
all of your testimonials, and I have a couple of questions.
First, Dr. Morton, thank you for laying out all the
different ways that these kids and young adults are counted
because there are vast differences.
And, Dr. Giovengo, I wanted to let you know that I was in
Auburn at a temporary living shelter for homeless youth. I
believe it is up to age 18. On the same day that King County
released their remarkable homeless count, which showed a
dramatic decrease from the year prior, all the people sitting
around the table said that is complete baloney. We all know
that because we know where these kids are on the streets. We
drove the neighborhoods the night before. And the night of the
count, they weren't there. They theorized that perhaps they
were handed bus tickets out of town, that perhaps they were
caught up in the criminal justice system.
And I wondered if either one of you could maybe speak to
the intersection between homeless youth and the criminal
justice system. And then I will get to another question.
Mr. Morton. Sure. Thank you very much, Congresswoman.
So we do know that there is a significant overlap between
juvenile criminal justice involvement and the experience of
youth homelessness. In fact, 46 percent of young people
experiencing homelessness on a specific night that we surveyed
across 22 counties had been in juvenile detention, prison, or
jail, and that is not even counting other forms of contact with
the criminal justice system.
It doesn't mean that all young people exit these systems
directly into homelessness, but it does mean that, like youth
in child welfare, like youth in behavioral health systems, this
is a population that is at significant risk and in need of
additional screening to look for risk factors or situations of
housing instability and to align appropriate supports and
services and to collaborate with these young people themselves
so that they can teach us what types of solutions make the most
sense for them.
Ms. Giovengo. I would agree with Dr. Morton. In King County
in particular, YouthCare does exceptional work inside of
juvenile detention to prevent young people from exiting on the
streets. As far as the count goes, the one night count in
January at 2 in the morning, you are probably not going to see
a lot of young people anyway. But on the positive side,
Washington State has done some remarkable investment, through
their Office of Homeless Youth, in terms of addressing the
issue of minors experiencing homelessness, which is where we
saw the biggest drop. And that included expanding beds, i.e.,
more Basic Center beds, more Basic Center opportunities, more
outreach opportunities, to find those young people and get them
reattached, and to actually, you know, begin early with family
intervention, family supports, family reconciliation, which is
the primary really target of all of the RHY services. As soon
as we see a young person, it is about getting them back to
family, a family that is safe and stable. And so we try to do
that immediately. But targeted resources help, and I think we
have seen some of that in Washington State.
Ms. Schrier. Thank you. I had a question about resources.
Because that same temporary shelter said that for a year -- and
this is just my memory here -- it was in the tens of thousands
of dollars for each young person they had there.
And I am looking at what Federal funding is, and I am
hearing the number $30 per homeless youth per year. And I am
embarrassed that I am even sitting here having this discussion,
because it is nothing, what the Federal Government is
providing.
I am wondering what your other funding sources are and what
more we can do or whether there are other Federal programs that
overlap that help these kids.
Ms. Giovengo. Sure. I think that is really important,
because the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act is kind of the
anchor point in communities, and that is why every community
should have a Runaway and Homeless Youth Program. When we have
an RHY program, we can then leverage that $3 and $4 to $1
through our State dollars, sometimes, not so much anymore, but
occasionally through HUD, through our Workforce Investment Act
dollars, through our local homelessness dollars, through
private philanthropy, and really create comprehensive services.
At YouthCare, each bed for an under 18 young person costs -
- bed, not per child, but each bed that we keep open on each
night is about $55,000 a year, because of licensing and license
requirement, which are critical, and in order to provide a high
quality of care, making sure that young person is getting to
school, getting to workforce development, doing family
reconciliation, having access to mental health and substance
disorder treatment. All of that, you know, comes into a basic
center in order to meet the developmental needs of young
people, and it is really critical.
The Federal investment needs to be much higher. I am not
going to, you know, let everyone off the hook there, but it is
only part of the solution, but it does provide the anchor in a
community and the philosophy of how we should be addressing
these needs in communities.
Ms. Schrier. Thank you. Thank you to all of you. And then I
have run out of time, but I will submit questions for you, Mr.
Baker, in terms of what services were most helpful to you and
what would you like to see more investments in. Thank you to
all of you.
Mrs. Hayes. Thank you.
I now recognize the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr.
Thompson.
Mr. Thompson. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, Ranking Member.
Thank you for this hearing on an incredibly important
topic. It is rather sad what happens to kids, to our children.
You know, we see that manifest itself in so many ways, whatever
the issues are. A lot today obviously with escalation with
substance abuse, opioid abuse, but a breakdown of the family.
Sometimes, you know, just, you know, the impact of poverty that
occurs for whatever reason.
And so I really appreciated hearing all of your testimony.
I apologize I had to step out. I am actually hosting a hearing
on Tuesday's Children, and they are having it kicked off. But I
was here for your testimony, and I appreciate the experience
and the compassion that each of you bring to this hearing.
Mr. Lowery, I want to thank you for being here, taking time
out of your busy schedule. As you know, the Runaway and
Homeless Youth Act aims to end childhood homelessness and
rescue youth runaways. During the 2017-2018 school year in my
home State, Pennsylvania public schools totaled 4,101
unaccompanied homeless youth. That is not acceptable. Our
children are this country's most valuable asset, and,
unfortunately, they are also the most vulnerable in our
society.
So, Mr. Lowery, given your work with the National Center
for Missing & Exploited Children, how does the Center interact
with homeless shelters and organizations that work to provide
safety services to homeless and runaway youth, and are there
improvements to those interactions you would like to make?
Mr. Lowery. Thank you, Mr. Thompson. And thank you for that
question. Exactly what we do at the National Center for Missing
& Exploited Children, we do interact with those homeless
shelters, whether it is family youth shelters, whether they are
group homes or they are just drop-in facilities.
We take reports now, because of our work with the Children
Missing from Care initiative, which under the Preventing Sex
Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act requires that they
be reported. So we are interacting with agencies in all 50
States now and all regions of the United States when it comes
to missing children.
And, of course, when you are talking about homeless
children, it exacerbates the problem when they run away from
that environment because, oftentimes, as you say, they are the
most vulnerable children that we have in our society today.
There are those that are waiting for them, luring them from
that environment, luring them into things such as horrendously
into child sex trafficking. Gangs target these children for
recruitment or affiliations so that they can carry out some of
the things for the gangs.
So we are seeing all sorts of victimization with these
children as well. Sexual exploitation. But sexual and violent
victimization is also something else that we don't find to be
uncommon with all of our runaway children.
But I think you bring up another point is what we would
like to see in a perfect world would be when we find these
children, we can return them to a safe place. Oftentimes, we
are going to find that those children are going to simply walk
away and continue their cycle of running away. And it is a very
frustrating issue for us.
As I said, finding the children is only half of the work
that we have to do. It is how do we keep them there. And
oftentimes we are lacking services and those important
interdictions to show these children that there is a better
life for them out there than what they are seeking or what they
are being encouraged to do by those who are taking advantage of
their situation. And I think this is where, if we had anything,
I would believe that would be what we would really wish for.
Mr. Thompson. So what type of services? You mentioned in
general you would like to see the services that would be
instrumental in facilitating that. What type of services in
particular, you know, would it be good to be able to expand or
to improve upon?
Mr. Lowery. Well, you know -- and that is an excellent
question. I think what we would like to see is more services
directly to that child and their family so that we can keep
them together and strengthen that position so that the child
isn't in a position where they find circumstances undesirable,
or maybe there are circumstances within the home that need to
be improved.
I think Mr. Baker made some very excellent points about his
own situation that really exemplifies the points that I am
making. Because oftentimes our children are running because
they are seeking a better life for themselves. They have a lack
of self-worth sometimes, and they are running from a situation.
So the more that we can get interventions for those
children and help them improve their lives, the better I think
we will serve that population of kids. But, as I said,
sometimes, you know, we do find that some places have adequate
services, and many others do not.
Mr. Thompson. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Mrs. Hayes. Thank you.
I now recognize Mr. Johnson from South Dakota.
Mr. Johnson. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Mr. Lowery, we will keep on with you. I thought you did a
good job in your testimony talking about the role of technology
and how it can be used by predators to make children more
susceptible to running away.
So are there data or statistics that can help us get a
better sense of how acute or pervasive this problem is?
Mr. Lowery. Well, yes, we can provide you some more
additional information. I don't have that with me here today.
But I can tell you that our experience at the National Center
is most children today have some sort of online presence. You
know, the social media and the availability of smartphone
technology and computers for children now has made our world,
frankly, a better place, but it is also an area where predators
are seeking our children for victimization.
We are seeing cases now where they are making contact with
our children in online chat rooms or on social media apps. And
these conversations might take place but over periods of days,
weeks, months until they have gained the confidence of that
child.
Mr. Johnson. Almost a grooming process.
Mr. Lowery. Absolutely, it is a grooming process. And this
is something that we are extremely concerned with because then
our children are being coerced into doing something they would
not normally do, and that is go with those offenders. Too
often, when these reports are made, because it doesn't present
itself to law enforcement, the officer taking the report sees
that child as a runaway. And we think it is something more than
that, so we dig deeper into that.
Mr. Johnson. So is there something that NCMEC is using? Is
there something families can be doing to help, you know, push
back against this negative influence of technology?
Mr. Lowery. Absolutely. In fact, we specifically target our
families with information about how social media and how the
interaction with our children, both good and bad. There is
safety material on there as well. But at the same time is that
we remind parents that they are the first line of defense when
it comes to their children. You know, oftentimes we find that
children are reluctant to share information with their parents
because of the inappropriateness of the conversations of which
they have been engaged. So we remind parents: Do not be
judgmental when it comes to your child. There is one villain in
this story, and it is not the youth.
Mr. Johnson. And at least for me, as the father of, you
know, three young sons, if I only bring up these topics once a
year as sort of the big scary conversation, then people have a
tendency to clam up. The more regularly that I can integrate
some of these conversations about how do you make good
decisions, how do you take care of yourself, how do you make
sure your friends are making good decisions, then it seems more
like just a part of a good conversation between a parent and a
child. Does that sound about right?
Mr. Lowery. You know, and I think you bring up a point too.
It is not necessarily bad parenting. It is just the fact that
we are living in a social media world that has a culture this
way. And that, while we are parenting in a world that is
dominated by social media, we are, frankly, policing in an area
that is dominated by social media. So it is gaining that
understanding.
Frankly, you know, someone my age didn't have the
understanding until, of course, I have been in this job that,
say, my grandson would have. They are far more keen to how this
technology evolves and how they can utilize this technology to
communicate with their friends, communicate with their
siblings. So, oftentimes, we find that the parents are not
always the best source of information when it comes to this.
When we know that a child has run away and we can't explain
why, we are going to be speaking with the siblings. We are
going to be seeking their friends. What is their online
presence? And it is not always apparent with those initial
reports. That is why we dig in and do a very comprehensive risk
assessment.
Mr. Johnson. So my district, the entire State of South
Dakota has, you know, nine reservations as well as, you know,
tens of thousands of Native peoples living on and off
reservation. You know, does NCMEC have particular resources
that they are deploying to Indian Country that can help with
this issue?
Mr. Lowery. Absolutely. We are in Indian Country quite
frequently. We have programs, not only with AMBER Alert --
frankly, I was in Arizona and New Mexico recently helping the
Navaho Nation establish their AMBER Alert program. But we are
very, very active in our interventions with Indian and Tribal
communities, which are oftentimes considered to be underserved.
You know, the reports of missing children sometimes are
sparse, and we encourage the reporting. So we are sharing with
their law enforcement agencies and the families not to be
hesitant to report their children missing. We are there to help
them and provide those services. But we have been very, very
active in that regard, especially up in the north.
Mr. Johnson. Well said. Thank you, Mr. Lowery.
Thank you, Madam Chair, and I yield back.
Mrs. Hayes. Thank you. I now recognize myself for 5
minutes.
So welcome to the witnesses. I have heard a lot of things
today that really has got me thinking about some things back at
home. One of the things in my hometown in Waterbury,
Connecticut, we have the largest homeless youth population in
my community. And as an educator, I always saw kids who were
transitioning out of high school faced with these challenges.
And I reached out this week in preparation for this hearing
to our shelter, to some of our community foundations. And one
of the things I found out was that we have the largest -- let
me be more specific -- the largest homeless LGBTQ youth
population, and part and parcel due to the fact that Waterbury
has the largest capacity of homeless shelters.
But our homeless shelter assigns anyone who comes according
to their identity, their sexual orientation at birth. And many
of these young people end up on the street as a result of that.
So our community has really just become the place where all of
this happens.
I guess, Mr. Lowery, is there anything as we are thinking
about that specifically, young people being assigned to dorm-
style shelter units by their gender identity at birth, is there
any way that we can assure that youth are getting the services
that they need and not going to the streets instead of going to
a shelter, because of issues like that?
Mr. Lowery. Well, you bring up an excellent point, ma'am.
The LGBTQ community is obviously a very vulnerable population
of children. But when those reports are made -- and we get
those reports quite frequently of children who run away -- the
sexual orientation is not really relevant to the work we are
doing. We are assessing the risk that child faces instead.
So we don't keep this particular data on that population of
kids nor any other population, because race, sex, and sexual
orientation is only part of the work that we do. And it is
using that information that we have about the individual child
to assess the risk that they face. Oftentimes, we know that
those children face higher rates of victimization, so that
raises that risk level.
Mrs. Hayes. But specifically about this -- I don't mean to
cut you off. I just don't want all my time to run out.
Dr. Giovengo, do you have any information in that specific
area?
Ms. Giovengo. Yes. At least YouthCare's practices and I
think the practices of most of the RHY programs around the
country is to be gender-affirming and supportive of young
people. So, as they come in, they basically identify the gender
that they identify as, and we then assign them beds or units
based on their choice and their selection. Their self-identity
is gender-affirming, --
Mrs. Hayes. Thank you.
Ms. Giovengo. -- which I think is really critical for their
safety.
Mrs. Hayes. Two other things that I want to elevate right
now, and I will ask both my questions at once so that if we get
to the end of the time, at least I will have asked the
questions.
The first one is we are talking a lot about youth who are
of the age to make the choice. I know there are also lots of
minors who are homeless youth. And, again, in this city, where
we have the largest homeless shelters, we have a lot of
families who are housed there.
And what I saw was in the summer, you know, you had a mom
who lived in the shelter but had full-time employment and was
on the pathway to stable and secure housing, but because there
was no school, they often were forced to quit their jobs,
because they now had to leave the shelter at 9 a.m. and be out
all day and had nowhere to put their children.
So I am going to come back to you, Dr. Morton, on this.
Does your research address any of the wraparound services that
we can provide for people as they are on the pathway to stable
and secure housing, even while they are homeless?
And then my next question is something that we touched upon
earlier. I have worked so hard as an educator so many times to
get kids through our high school system, get them enrolled in
college, get them on a campus. And, just like you said, when
the campuses go on break, these kids are back in a situation
and often can't recover. You know, are on the Dean's list, have
been doing amazing work; go through the summer and can't
return.
So, again, what are the wraparound services we can provide?
So, with the remainder of my time, I would like Dr. Morton and
Mr. -- or even Mr. Baker, because you have had some experience
here.
Mr. Morton. Thank you very much, Congresswoman.
I would say that, you know, the research certainly
reinforces that young people need housing stability, and
permanent housing is a basis for success in areas elsewhere,
but also underscores the fact that youth homelessness is a
product of more than housing instability. It is also about
ruptured relationships, a lack of education, an ability to
connect to a long-term career path with stable income in the
context of rapidly increasing housing prices.
So all of these connected supports and services are really
essential to young people and that they are offered in a
trauma-informed way and that they establish meaningful long-
term connections in the community for young people that they
can utilize and engage beyond the life of the specific housing
program.
Mrs. Hayes. Thank you. Unfortunately, my time has expired,
but I just want us all to think about and be reminded that
these are -- like you said, it is not just the housing. It is
all of those connected services and the extension of what
happens to these children in our communities. I guess I am
yielding back to myself.
I now recognize the Ranking Member of this Subcommittee,
Mr. Comer from Kentucky.
Mr. Comer. Before I begin my questions, Mr. Baker, I just
have to say that I was very impressed with your story. You
certainly are an inspiration. I am glad that you serve now as
an advocate because you should be a role model to the youth
that we are talking about today.
And I just wanted to publicly say that, Mr. Lowery, you
took a lot of time to discuss why it is important to consider
these kids as missing rather than as runaways or something
else. How successful has the Center been in getting communities
to see that, and what kind of education do you do to help
spread that message?
Mr. Lowery. Thank you, Mr. Ranking Member. Yes, what we
find is very frustrating, is that we face a desensitized and an
apathetic public when we advertise the fact that this child was
a runaway, in fact, so much so that, several years ago, we made
a conscious decision to remove that designation from our
posters when we are facing to the public. Unfortunately, the
public doesn't understand the endangerments these children
face. So, instead, now we embarked on an education program and
sharing of information program so that we raise public
awareness of the endangerments. And we are seeing progress,
although it is coming in increments.
We know also that the public is now starting to recognize
that they play a role when it comes to finding our children in
our communities. And we also know that media -- frankly, it was
very difficult for us to get media attention for a child if
they knew that child was a runaway. So we are starting to get
better media attention to our children, especially when we
start talking to them about that risk that child faces.
So, if they are in danger, we are getting much better --
and law enforcement is doing a much better job. We have been
sharing best practices, recommendations with law enforcement.
We encourage rapid response, rapid search that is being
adopted. And, frankly, I am working right now with our partners
at the International Association of Chiefs of Police to develop
model policies for response to missing children that we hope
will be soon adopted by most agencies across the country.
Mr. Comer. A child that is missing is a crisis, no matter
where they come from or who they are. However, sometimes it
helps to have better information about the child to try to
locate them faster. What kind of information is important, and
how does the Center spread that information out in a useful
manner to help local organizations find and bring the child
home?
Mr. Lowery. Excellent question. Yes, sir. When we get a
report of a missing child, immediately at the time that report
is being made, we are taking information from the caller. As I
say, we are a child-centric organization, meaning that we don't
treat that child as a number, that we treat that child as a
person.
And each child that goes missing we know is a unique event.
So, therefore, we are looking for information on who that child
may be with, where they may be heading, why they left the
environment that they left, if they had a social media presence
with someone who may have been in contact with them that
encouraged them to leave that safe environment.
We are also watching very intently on whether or not these
gangs are in contact with our kids, encouraging them to come
there. And, again, these children are especially vulnerable to
that kind of contact because they lack that sense of belonging
oftentimes and maybe that sense of self-worth. So they are
looking for someone who would look after them or possibly even
protect them. Obviously, we know that is probably not the best
choice to be made. But, again, we are not in the circumstances
of those children. So we have learned from all that through
that risk-assessment program.
Also, each and every child is assigned to one singular case
management team at the National Center. So they know that child
better than anyone else and the behaviors. So when that child,
as I say, goes reported missing more than once, that case
manager is going to know where they have been found in the
past, who they have been in the company with. So they are
sharing that information with law enforcement and the social
service agencies to expediently return that child to a safe
place.
Mr. Comer. My last question I am going to ask Mr. Baker: Is
there anything in particular that we in Congress should be
aware of as we look at programs to help vulnerable children or
anything you would like to mention that would be helpful for us
to know?
Mr. Baker. Thank you for the question, Ranking Member
Comer. I think one thing that Congress should be aware of is
the Homeless and Foster Youth Act of 2019. This act would
streamline the process for applying for financial aid,
receiving financial aid. It would help students access housing,
and it would designate a higher education liaison to, you know,
hold a place for these students to access services.
In San Diego, the community college that I went to had an
equity office, and that was a place where students could go to
get a little sticker on their ID so that they didn't have to
self-identify that they were homeless. It also gave us access
to showers in the morning, which is essential for somebody who
is trying to get themselves together, especially while trying
to avoid self-identifying, which is one of the main things that
keeps a young person from accessing services.
Mr. Comer. Well, thank you very much.
My time has expired, and I yield back.
Mrs. Hayes. Thank you. I now recognize the gentleman from
Kentucky, Mr. Yarmuth.
Mr. Yarmuth. I thank Chairwoman Hayes and Ranking Member
Comer and also for the witnesses for being here. I am very
grateful to the Committee to allow me to participate in today's
hearing. I would also like to thank again the witnesses.
And I am here because I am the lead Democrat on the
reauthorization of the Runaway and Homeless Youth and
Trafficking Prevention Act, which I am working to finalize now
with Representative Bacon here in the House and with Senators
Leahy and Collins in the Senate.
This hearing presents a great opportunity to discuss how we
can strengthen our RHY programs and work toward ending youth
homelessness altogether. Youth homelessness is an issue that I
have focused on throughout my time in Congress, and the
testimony presented today demonstrates the need for increased
support from the Federal Government in these critical programs.
Investing in children is the most important investment we
can make in our Nation's future, and homeless youth are among
the most vulnerable people in our communities. We know that
homeless youth are at high risk for developing physical,
behavioral, and emotional problems and potentially becoming
victims of sex and labor trafficking.
Given the right support, we can help these young people
effectively transition into adulthood, become competitive in
the workforce, and positively contribute to society. Yet, 1 in
10 young adults and 1 in 30 adolescents are homeless and in
need of services, which clearly exceeds the resources of RHY
programs.
For the young people who do receive RHY services, the
current funding level limits that assistance to $30 per day per
young person, on average. So we have two gaps to fill between
those who need services and those who are getting it and the
level of services provided to each young person and what is
needed, to make sure each individual is safe and set up to
succeed, which brings me to my questions.
Dr. Giovengo, your testimony talks about the importance of
extending the grant length from 3 to 5 years. Could you tell us
how that change would improve service delivery to young people?
Ms. Giovengo. Absolutely. This is something that we are
very passionate about in the field, because the 3-year grant
cycle really keeps our staff on kind of pins and needles about
if they are going to have a job. And that constant
reauthorization really doesn't allow us to develop especially
young staff into excellent staff and maintain them over time.
People change people. That is what makes a difference in
the lives of our young people that we serve. And the better we
are able to maintain both the programming, the consistency of
the people, and the quality of the people that we have in
programs makes a huge difference. A commitment of 3 to 5 years
allows us to focus our resources on, you know, developing a
workforce that are the experts and that can stay committed to
the young person.
I mean, I submitted a story in my written testimony about a
young man, a young person that said, you know, 3 years, worked
with the same person over 3 years. That is how he got out of
homelessness. And so I think that one of the things it allows
us to do is stabilize these programs and help build the kind of
community sustainability that we need to keep them going in
whatever economic times.
Mr. Yarmuth. Just following up, what would you like to see
Congress do other than extend the duration from 3 to 5 years,
for Congress to do to strengthen these programs?
Ms. Giovengo. Well, I think we have talked about the idea
of going from 21 to 30 days, and where licensing allows it even
longer for young people, so that we can actually work on long-
term placement for young people, either getting them back home
or building more transitional living programs for those minors
16 to 18 years old so that they are not just discharged to
another shelter.
I think those are two critical pieces, extending the
timeline, working on the length of the grant. And, of course,
the level of funding would be critical. We need, you know, way
more than $127 million to have an RHY program in every
community. And I think Congress needs to recognize the cost of
dealing with minors and licensing and having quality services.
Helping young people regain their lives, ending
homelessness is an expensive undertaking. And I would say that
we turn away young people, you know, every day all across this
country. And, you know, just as a saying, you know, traffickers
don't have wait lists. So, when they can't be served by us and
when we don't have a resource in a community, someone is right
there waiting for them, and we need to be there to ensure that
these young people's lives are not destroyed and trauma loaded
over time.
Mr. Yarmuth. Thank you.
And, Mr. Baker, I really don't have time to ask a question,
but I want to, once again, congratulate you and thank you for
your testimony. I remember the first time we had a hearing on
the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act. And we had a young man
named Robbie who had come through our Safe Place program in
Louisville, Kentucky, and he had everybody in the room in tears
because his story was so inspirational, and yours is as well.
So, once again, let me thank the Subcommittee for allowing
me to participate. And as someone that serves the district
where Safe Place was started and is now the home for National
Safe Place headquarters, I am very, very proud to be a part of
this effort.
So thanks again, and I yield back.
Mrs. Hayes. Thank you. That is the end of our questioning.
Thank you all for your time.
I remind my colleagues that, pursuant to the Committee
practice, materials for submission for the hearing record must
be submitted to the Committee Clerk within 14 days following
the last day of the hearing, preferably in Microsoft Word
format. The material submitted must address the subject matter
of the hearing. Only a Member of the Committee or an invited
witness may submit materials for inclusion in the hearing
record. Documents are limited to 50 pages each. Documents
longer than 50 pages will be incorporated into the record via
an internet link that you must provide to the Committee Clerk
within the required timeframe, but please recognize that, years
from now, that link may no longer work.
And now, without objection, I would like to enter into the
record a research brief from Chapin Hall detailing that a
comprehensive study of the national prevalence of youth
homelessness showed that 4.2 million youth experience
homelessness each year; a report from the U.S. Interagency
Council on Homelessness summarizing what the Federal Government
knows about the scale of youth homelessness and identifying the
gaps in robust data on youth homelessness; a guide from the
U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness summarizing strategies
and promising practices for ending youth homelessness; and a
report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office on child
well-being showing that homelessness has increased among
students and families in recent years.
Without objection, so ordered.
[The information follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
CHILD WELL BEING: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CPRT-
116HPRT40976/pdf/CPRT-116HPRT40976.pdf
Mrs. Hayes. Again, I want to thank the witnesses for their
participation today. What we have heard is very valuable.
Members of the Committee may have some additional questions for
you, and we ask the witnesses to please respond to those
questions in writing. The hearing record will be held open for
14 days in order to receive those responses. I remind my
colleagues that pursuant to committee practice, witness
questioning for the hearing records must be submitted to the
majority committee staff or Committee Clerk within 7 days. The
questions submitted must address the subject matter of this
hearing.
I now recognize the distinguished Ranking Member for his
closing statement.
Mr. Comer. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. And thank you all
for coming here today and sharing your stories and thoughts on
runaway and homeless youth. You all confirmed the sad reality
that homeless youth face grave dangers. I am happy to hear
about your efforts to help keep these children safe. What we
know is that this work continues and that it is critical to
engage many partners in the work to bring these children home
and help keep them home.
I particularly appreciated hearing about various facets of
work to help save these children, including the efforts
undertaken by the National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children. The work they do when a child goes missing is
critical and is a vital part of the system to provide help to
protect runaways and homeless children. The service with our
other witnesses are equally important to saving these children.
And, finally, without good data, we can't properly assess our
work and know what works. All these parts combine to help
protect children, and I want to thank you again for all the
work that you do.
Thank you, and I yield back.
Mrs. Hayes. Thank you. I now recognize myself for the
purposes of making a closing statement.
Today's hearing made clear to the Members of this
Subcommittee that youth homelessness is a pervasive issue that
demands our attention. Congress has a responsibility to ensure
all children and youth have access to stable housing. As our
witnesses shared, youth homelessness is not only an urgent
public health crisis facing millions of youth across the
country, it is a threat to the safety and development of our
country's future.
Without stable housing, far too many young Americans cannot
access the resources and support that are so crucial to
excelling in school, staying safe from horrific abuse and
sexual exploitation, and learning to live self-sufficient and
independent lives.
Importantly, today's hearing also confirmed that youth
homelessness is not experienced equally across all communities.
Systemic discrimination throughout our society subjects
children in underserved communities to a significantly higher
risk of suffering the long-lasting consequences of youth
homelessness.
As our witnesses shared, family disputes, abuse, and
experience with the juvenile justice and foster systems push
LGBTQ youth and Black and Latino youth into homelessness at
disproportionately higher rates. Young parents are also more
likely to face homelessness, putting not only themselves at
risk but also their young infants and toddlers, whose lives are
just starting.
After hearing what our witnesses had to say, I do not think
anyone disagrees that Congress must update and improve Federal
policy to help eliminate youth homelessness. Drawing from our
discussions today, I look forward to working with each of my
colleagues to pass the bipartisan reauthorization of the
Runaway and Homeless Youth Act we so urgently need.
We need a reauthorization that meets the needs of young
adults by extending the length of time youth can stay in Basic
Center programs and prioritize family engagement when it is in
the best interests of the youth. We need a reauthorization that
centers trauma-informed practices to effectively serve and
support youth who have been victims of abuse, trafficking, or
sexual exploitation. And we need a reauthorization that ensures
that young people, no matter where they find shelter, do not
face discrimination or abuse, based on their age, race,
religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
I hope that all of us here can work together to realize
these priorities and take long overdue steps to ensure that no
child in this country endures the trauma and uncertainty of
youth homelessness. Our Nation's children deserve no less.
Thank you all for your time here today. If there is no
further business, without objection, the Committee stands
adjourned.
[Questions submitted for the record and their responses
follow:]
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[Whereupon, at 3:55 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.
[all]