The Youth Homelessness System Improvement (YHSI) Grants | FR 6700 N 96

Opportunity Information: Apply for FR 6700 N 96

The Youth Homelessness System Improvement (YHSI) Grants are a discretionary grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) designed to help selected communities strengthen the local "system" that responds to youth homelessness. Rather than primarily funding direct housing units or individual services, these grants emphasize systems change and long-term infrastructure improvements so communities can serve youth more effectively, coordinate across agencies, and build youth-centered approaches that are more responsive to real needs on the ground. The overall aim is to increase a community's capacity to prevent and address youth homelessness, including better prevention and diversion strategies, and to ensure homeless assistance projects are coordinated and administered in ways that work for youth.

A central feature of the program is building and supporting Youth Action Boards (YABs) and broader youth leadership infrastructure. HUD is looking for communities to create the conditions for youth with lived experience and at-risk youth to meaningfully shape local policies, program design, and implementation. The grant supports developing peer support models and investing in training that equips young people to lead, including practical skills such as understanding government rules, developing leadership capacity, and participating in program planning and oversight. It also encourages community-wide training and outreach so agencies, providers, and partners learn how to engage youth in an authentic way, integrate youth voice into decision-making, and avoid tokenism.

Another major objective is strengthening partnerships across the multiple systems that interact with housing-unstable youth. YHSI grants are meant to bring together organizations and public systems that often operate separately, such as Tribes and cultural organizations, K-12 schools, higher education institutions, juvenile justice, child welfare, employment and workforce services, and other local youth-serving entities. By improving collaboration among these partners, communities can identify youth earlier, reduce duplication, close gaps in referrals, and improve the pathways that help young people move from crisis to stability. The emphasis is on building durable relationships and operating practices that persist after the grant period ends.

The opportunity also targets improvements to Coordinated Entry Systems (CES), which are the standardized processes communities use to assess needs and connect people to housing and services. For youth, CES often requires specialized approaches that are developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed, and sensitive to safety and confidentiality. YHSI funding is intended to help communities refine how youth are identified, assessed, prioritized, and referred, and to improve how youth-specific projects coordinate with the broader homeless response system. Alongside CES improvements, the program prioritizes better data collection and data sharing across youth-serving systems, which can help communities understand trends, track outcomes, and design interventions that actually match local patterns of need. This includes improving the ways data are collected and used between systems that work with youth at risk of or experiencing homelessness.

Equity is another explicit focus. Communities are expected to assess and improve equity in their youth homelessness response systems, which can involve examining whether certain groups experience barriers to access, whether policies unintentionally exclude youth, and whether outcomes differ by race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, tribal affiliation, or other factors that frequently intersect with housing instability. The intent is to build a response system that is fair, accessible, and effective for youth who are most impacted by homelessness and systemic barriers.

From an administrative standpoint, the funding opportunity is listed as "The Youth Homelessness System Improvement (YHSI) Grants" under Funding Opportunity Number FR 6700 N 96. It is a HUD discretionary grant in the Housing activity category, with CFDA (Assistance Listing) number 14.277. HUD anticipated making about 35 awards, with an award ceiling of up to $2,000,000 per grant. The original application closing date for the posted notice was February 15, 2024, and the opportunity record shows a creation date of November 8, 2023.

Eligible applicants include a wide range of governmental and quasi-governmental entities, such as state governments, county governments, city or township governments, and special district governments. Eligible applicants also include Native American tribal governments (federally recognized), public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities, and Native American tribal organizations (other than federally recognized tribal governments). In addition, tax-exempt nonprofit organizations may be eligible if they meet the regulatory criteria referenced at 24 CFR 5.109(l)(1) through 24 CFR 5.109(l)(5). The notice also highlights eligibility for Indian Tribes and tribally designated housing entities as defined in Section 4 of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4103). Individuals, foreign entities, and sole proprietorships are explicitly not eligible to apply for or receive awards under this announcement.

In practical terms, YHSI is best understood as funding to help a community "build the engine" of an effective youth homelessness response system: youth leadership structures, cross-system partnerships, coordinated entry improvements, better data practices, and an equity-driven approach to how decisions are made and resources are accessed. The expected result is a stronger, more coordinated local system that can identify youth earlier, respond more quickly, and deliver youth-centered solutions that reduce homelessness and keep young people safely housed.

• The Department of Housing and Urban Development in the housing sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "The Youth Homelessness System Improvement (YHSI) Grants" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 14.277.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-11-08.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-02-15. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 35 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Others.

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