About 1,000 young adults, ages 18 to 26, leave foster care in New York City each year, and many of them are at risk of becoming homeless, not continuing their education, and ending up living in homeless shelters.
“As a youth in foster care, you never know where you will end up, or how you will end up. But now, I have a safe space to rest, and in the heart of Harlem, where you step out and are instantly inspired. I plan to make the most of it,” says Vanessa Riley.
This young student is among the residents of the new 17-story residential tower in the heart of Harlem, where 70 young people have left the foster care and shelter system and moved into 51 supportive housing apartments, a program carried out by The New York Foundling and the state of New York.
These fully furnished, affordable rental apartments are not only a home, but are a key that opens the door to services to support your independence. There they receive counseling and therapy as well as tutoring and job training.
This program has a remarkable success rate: in each of the last four years, 95% of the young people who have had these supportive residences have successfully transitioned, within two years, to living independently. Whether in market-rate or rent-controlled homes.
“This is how we break the cycle of homelessness for these young people,” said Melanie Hartzog, president and CEO of The New York Foundling, one of the city’s largest and oldest human services organizations, which was created more than 150 years, to care for children who were at risk of being marginalized from society.
In addition to this new Harlem development and with support from New York State, The Foundling already operates three supportive housing programs in Brooklyn, including two programs spread across 20 buildings, serving 40 youth in 33 apartment units.
Of 48 young people, 46 have taken the next step to an independent life in a period of no more than 48 months.
A space of your own
Ecuadorian Erick Paucán is the program coordinator of this organization. Once the young people enter the apartment, from that moment on, he is in charge of helping them find employment and connecting them with study opportunities.
“Many of them had never had their own space in their lives. They generally lived with many people, where they did not feel safe. It makes me very happy to be able to connect them with opportunities for their personal development,” he said.
Erick has witnessed hundreds of stories, where people who did not trust anything or anyone, ended up rebuilding their lives, with only one opportunity to have a decent and independent space.
This new apartment complex is part of a large mixed-use development project known as the Urban Empowerment Center, which will house the National Urban League museum and institute, the Studio Museum of Harlem, the United Negro College Fund and the Virginia Union University.
Development partners on the project are BRP Companies, L+M Development Partners, Taconic Partners and The Prusik Group. Financing for the project came from New York State, Goldman Sachs, Santander Bank and Redstone Equity Partners.
Amazing trends
Many youth who leave foster care are at risk of homelessness and face barriers to finding housing, obtaining employment, finishing school, and building a support system to guide them forward.
As a publication by Albany Medical College highlights in its assessment, “the reasons why a child may end up in foster care are many: unfit parents, abusive homes or complex behavioral problems.”
If children placed in the foster care system are not reunited with their families when they are young, they almost always face major challenges in aging.
The statistical trends for children left alone are staggering.
“Between 18% and 26% will end up in homeless shelters and approximately 50% will not be able to find stable employment,” this study confirms.