The purpose of the Youth Homelessness
Demonstration Project Evaluation (YHDE), by the Office of Policy
Development and Research, at the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD), is to assess the progress and results of
the 2017 YHDP grantee communities in developing and executing a
coordinated community approach to preventing and ending youth
homelessness. YHDP grant funds help communities to work with youth
advisory boards, child welfare agencies, and other community
partners to create comprehensive community plans to end youth
homelessness; these comprehensive plans are a major focus for the
grantees in the first grant year. The grant funding is used for a
variety of housing options, including rapid re-housing, permanent
supportive housing, and transitional housing, as well as innovative
programs. YHDP also will support youth-focused performance
measurement and coordinated entry systems. In order to obtain a
clear picture of YHDP grant activities, this longitudinal,
multi-level evaluation will measure activities and progress of
grantees essential to building and sustaining effective community
change. Data collection will occur during two evaluation components
with each component including data collection activities and
analyses. These components include two waves of a web-based survey
of Continuums of Care, and site visits with each demonstration
community and the three selected comparison sites. Component one, a
web-based survey of Continuums of Care (CoCs) in the U.S. will be
administered twice, in Years 1 and 4 of the evaluation, to all CoC
program directors across the country excluding the 10 YHDP grantees
and three comparison communities, for a total of 400 survey
participants each wave. These data will provide an understanding of
system developments occurring across the country and provide a
comparative basis for understanding the demonstration communities.
The survey will ask questions about the nature and capacity of the
prevention and crisis approaches in place, the housing and service
solutions, and the strategies for screening and assessing youth. It
will focus on understanding the coordination and collaboration
between the homeless assistance system and mainstream service
systems, as well as whether and how the system prioritizes and
coordinates referrals to the different programs. The second data
collection component is comprised of site visits which will be
conducted with each demonstration community and the three
comparison non-grantee CoCs. The site visits will include
interviews with key informants, with project technical assistance
(TA) providers, and youth, as well as focus groups with different
subgroups of youth. The site visit guide will describe data
collection procedures to be followed to ensure rigor and
consistency across site visit teams. The first site visit will be
conducted as soon as OMB approval is received to collect
information while grantees are developing their coordinated
community plans. The second site visit will be conducted in early
2019 to explore how the plans are being implemented, as well as
barriers to or facilitators of change. The third and final site
visits will be scheduled after community plans have been in effect
for at least one year (mid-2020).
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
(final) Consent to participate in a Research Project form 4-3-18.docx
30-Day Notice Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project.pdf
Youth Focus Groups