L.A. Foster Care Youth Struggle with Housing as They Become Independent; Services Should Be Expanded to Later Ages
For Release
Monday
February 10, 2025
A study of young adults in Los Angeles who were transitioning to independence from the foster care system found that the group had a hard time finding permanent housing, with participants moving an average of 15 times over a one-year period.
While one-half of those studied found their own permanent housing during the study period, those accommodations often had the limitations of being available for only two years and being restricted to people aged 18 to 24.
Researchers say those restrictions suggest that a considerable portion of the youth may face another housing crisis in the near future, when they age out of their current accommodations or reach the time limits of their housing.
Additionally, the study found that one-third of the participants still resided in temporary accommodations after a year, which put them at risk for future homelessness.
“Young people with foster care involvement are at extreme risk of experiencing homelessness, despite California's investment to extend foster care benefits up to the age of 21,” said Sarah Hunter, the report's lead author and a senior behavioral scientist at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. “Policymakers should consider more-effective interventions and support for transition-aged youth, and provide them with services for a longer period to help them become independent adults.”
A previous RAND study found that the foster care system is a significant contributor to youth homelessness, with an estimated one-third of youth experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County having a history of involvement with the foster care system.
To better understand the issue, RAND researchers followed 24 unstably housed transition-aged youth in Los Angeles County starting in 2023, seeking to interview them monthly about their efforts to find permanent housing over the course of one year. Participants were recruited from drop-in centers, transitional housing, or shelter settings, and from the streets.
Researchers found that having stable housing was associated with improved quality of life and less reliance on health care, public assistance, and probation-service systems.
For example, being sheltered relative to being unsheltered was associated with fewer depressive symptoms and days of binge drinking, reduced use of hallucinogens and illegal substances, and increases in having government-issued identification and other legal documentation.
Researchers make a number of recommendations to strengthen services for and the amount of time they are provided to transition-aged youth with foster care involvement.
Those include continuing to provide and improve case management and wraparound services—including housing navigation, connections to health care, work, and school- or job-training engagement strategies—to this population. Housing navigation and case management services also need to be tailored and not dependent on geography, given this group's lack of residential permanency.
Such services should be provided to the group beyond age 24, since many of the youth need additional support beyond that age.
Researchers say it is notable that most unstably housed transition-aged youth with foster care involvement reported having a serious mental health disorder. This suggests there is a need for ongoing mental health supports with housing options.
In addition, since many people in this group have children, appropriate services should include parental supports and family housing options.
The report, “Navigating the Housing and Foster Care Systems in Los Angeles County: A Longitudinal Case Study of 24 Transition Age Youth,” is available at www.rand.org.
Support for the project was provided by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. Other authors of the report are Emma Bianculli, Michelle Bongard, Rick Garvey, and Jason M. Ward.
The RAND Social and Economic Well-Being division seeks to actively improve the health and social and economic well-being of populations and communities throughout the world.
