Mitigating youth homelessness in Nebraska

The university’s Center on Children, Families and the Law is leading a project aimed at curbing youth homelessness in greater Nebraska. A $3.28 million award from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, announced in July, supports this work. In partnership with the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation and the Nebraska Balance of State Continuum of Care, the center is using the funding to strengthen existing programs, such as rapid re-housing and permanent supportive housing, and to launch new approaches that will directly serve youths and young adults under 24 years old across the state outside the Lincoln and Omaha metropolitan areas. More than 2,000 of Nebraska’s roughly 175,000 youths between ages 10 and 24 are homeless, according to recent counts. The project is one of 11 funded nationwide through the HUD program.