Code of the District of Columbia

§ 4–752.02a. Plan to end youth homelessness in the District by 2022.

(a) No later than 300 days after February 26, 2015, the Interagency Council, working jointly with organizations providing service to homeless youth within the Continuum of Care as well as homeless or formerly homeless youth and their advocates, shall prepare, publish, and submit to the Council a comprehensive Plan to End Youth Homelessness in the District by 2022.

(b) The plan required by this section shall:

(1) Include a community-wide needs assessment that takes into account existing data, including the results of the extended youth count required in § 4-753.01(h);

(2) Include an analysis of strategies that have been successful in reducing youth homelessness;

(3) Be developed pursuant to a process that includes public hearings and that will identify, prioritize, and target needs for services for homeless youth within the Continuum of Care;

(4) Include specific recommendations for eradicating youth homelessness in the District by 2022, including recommendations for:

(A) A grant-based family reunification program, a host-home program, and additional cultural competency training for youth homeless service workers, including intake and drop-in center workers, designed to inform such workers adequately concerning the developmental needs of homeless youth; and

(B) Other specific culturally-competent and language-accessible programs designed to prevent youth from becoming homeless, identify youth that are homeless or [at risk of homelessness], and provide counseling, shelter, and appropriate services to the youth so identified (including minor heads of households and minors temporarily without parental supervision); and

(5) Include estimates of the costs of carrying out various components of the plan.

(c) The plan required by this section shall identify any new legislation that is necessary to implement its recommendations, and provide recommendations concerning how to fund the provisions of the plan without reducing funding for other social programs.

(d) The Interagency Council shall revise and submit to the Council the strategic plan required by § 4-752.02(b)(2) no later than 390 days after February 26, 2015, incorporating the provisions of the plan required by this section.