How Prevention Helped Washington Reduce Youth Homelessness by 40%

Washington State saw nearly 10,000 fewer young people experiencing homelessness in 2022 compared to 2016.

Thanks to a statewide, cross-sector, youth homelessness prevention-focused strategy, the state successfully reduced youth homelessness by 40%.

These results are striking.

Washington also saw a significant reduction in the number of youth exiting state care into homelessness, and 75% of youth and young adults permanently housed in 2020 retained stable housing two years later. It built prevention-focused strategies and interventions, including wraparound, legal, financial, and school-based supports. Proof that prevention works when systems align.

Today, Washington is recognized as a national leader in youth homelessness prevention, offering a model for what’s possible when communities commit to coordinated, cross-sector strategies.

September’s panel invited leaders from Washington State to talk about how they developed and implemented their prevention strategy to reduce youth homelessness—and what other communities can learn from their success.

Learn about our panelists and hosts below.

PANELISTS

CASEY TRUPIN is the director of the Raikes Foundation’s housing stability for youth strategy, which supports efforts in Washington state as well as national approaches to ensure that all youth have a safe and stable place to live. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2015, Casey was the directing attorney for the Children and Youth Project at Columbia Legal Services, where he engaged in litigation, legislative advocacy and other systemic initiatives to improve outcomes for children, youth and adults experiencing homelessness, as well as those in foster care and the justice system. 

Casey has chaired a number of national initiatives related to children and youth, has authored and edited numerous books and articles on adolescents and the law, and was awarded the ABA’s Distinguished Lawyer Child Advocacy Award. Casey has worked on issues related to youth experiencing homelessness since 1994 in Seattle, California, Washington D.C. and throughout Latin America.

MATT DAVIS is the Systems Change Manager at the Washington State Office of Homeless Youth Prevention & Protection, which leads statewide efforts to reduce and prevent homelessness for youth (ages 12-17) and young adults (ages 18-24) by partnering with community programs to establish ongoing and future funding, policy, and best practices. In this role, Matt leads OHY’s policy and strategic initiatives, collaborating with the Washington State Legislature, state agency partners, community-based organizations, as well as young people and care givers with lived experience to advance the state’s strategy to prevent and end youth and young adult homelessness in Washington.

Prior to joining OHY in 2021, Matt worked for the City of Spokane, WA where he led the Spokane City/County Continuum of Care’s work to end youth and young adult homelessness including developing the community’s Youth Homelessness By-Name-List, supporting the establishment of Spokane’s Homeless Youth Action Board, and coordinating the implementation of Spokane’s Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program award.

HOSTS

STEPHEN GAETZ is a Professor in the Faculty of Education at York University, in Toronto Canada.  He is the President of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and the Homeless Hub at York University as well as co-Director of Making the Shift – Youth Homelessness Social Innovation Lab  and the United Nations Centre of Excellence on Youth Homelessness Prevention (Toronto). Dr. Gaetz works in collaboration with partners to conduct research and mobilize this knowledge so as to have a greater impact on solutions to homelessness, and in particular the prevention of homelessness. In 2017 Dr. Gaetz was awarded the Member of the Order of Canada.

MELANIE REDMAN is the co-founder, President & CEO of A Way Home Canada, a national coalition reimagining solutions to youth homelessness through transformations in policy, planning and practice. A Way Home Canada has inspired communities and countries around the world to adopt the A Way Home brand as a way to participate in a growing international movement for change. Melanie leads the National Learning Community on Youth Homelessness in Canada, which is a pan-Canadian community of practice for youth homelessness service providers. Melanie is also the co-founder and Partnership and Implementation Director for the Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Social Innovation Lab, which is a Government of Canada Research Tri-Council Networks of Centres of Excellence. Since 2021, Making the Shift has held the designation as a Geneva UN Charter Centre of Excellence. Melanie was named an Ashoka Fellow in 2023 for her on-going social entrepreneurship.

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This session is part of our Making the Shift collective body of work on youth homelessness.

The Toronto Centre of Excellence (TCE) on Youth Homelessness Prevention at York University is a UN Geneva Charter Centre at York University led in partnership between the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, A Way Home Canada and our Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Innovation Lab.