The Community Alliance for the Homeless (CAFTH), a homelessness resource and advocacy organization in Memphis, has scored a two-year, $3.8 million grant to help combat youth homelessness in the city.

“Youths have really unique needs compared to the general population and can fall through the cracks because of that,” said Hannah McCarty, continuum of care (CoC) youth and special populations administrator at CAFTH.

The grant, formally called the Youth Homeless Demonstration Program, is an initiative from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) aimed at helping communities come up with solutions for combatting youth homelessness.

If the shoe fits: Homeless get right-size footwear thanks to thoughtful plan

Funding is competitive.

McCarty applied for the grant on behalf the organization and has been the one managing the funds since CAFTH received them.

She said that CAFTH was one of 33 applicants that were selected by HUD for the funding.

CAFTH’s program that the grant will help support is five parts, each one a different project, that are mostly centered around providing housing solutions to homeless youth.

The organization estimates that last year there were around 739 homeless youths in Memphis.

Orange Mound Task Force pushes to reopen homeless shelter

The majority of them (537) were unsheltered. The remaining 202 were reported as sheltered but still considered homeless.

CAFTH uses an annual Point-In-Time (PIT) Count to estimate homelessness in the city. The method is required by HUD and is based on those identified as homeless on a single night in January.

The first part of the programs will be expansion of CAFTH’s Homeless Management Information System to include the programs that it will create under the HUD grant.

It will also help the organization to better collect data on homeless youth and young adults specifically.

The second part is a coordinated entry program.

“It’s basically a way to ensure that youth are connected to housing,” said Stephanie Reyes, CoC youth and special populations director at CAFTH.

The third part is a youth navigation program that will help connect youth in need with education, employment and housing resources in the community.

“A lot of youth felt like they were being put on wild goose chases throughout the system where they would go from one provider and then have to go talk to another provider and never really fully understood how to navigate our system of care,” Reyes said.

CAFTH will place five system navigators at different organizations across the city that are helping youth as a part of the program.

It will also place a housing navigator at its office that will help connect youth to affordable housing.

Kensington reopens as model of affordable housing

The fourth part is a host homes program for youth and will be the first resource of its kind for Memphis.

The program will be geared toward providing short-term assistance to youth that can’t or are unwilling to go to a shelter.

It will also prioritize youth that identify as transgender, are pregnant or are exiting the foster care system.

The final part is a joint transitional housing and rapid-re housing program that McCarthy said community members deemed a priority.

It will give youth access to crisis and transitional housing while they plan for a more permanent solution.

McCarthy said that if everything goes according to plan, CAFTH hopes to start offering services under these programs in the fall.

“This feels like opportunity to reach so many more youth and connect them with resources,” Reyes said.