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Council Member Stevens advocates for increased support for Runaway and Homeless Youth programs
4:19:59
·
76 sec
Council Member Althea Stevens raises concerns about the financial struggles of Runaway and Homeless Youth (RHY) program providers and emphasizes the urgent need for increased support for this vulnerable population. She criticizes the lack of attention given to homeless youth in city planning and vows to continue advocating for their needs.
- Stevens highlights that RHY providers' costs are rising while contract payments remain stagnant, threatening their solvency.
- Deputy Commissioner Jeremy Halbridge mentions that RHY programs are part of the FY 2026 continuation plan and potential future RFP.
- Stevens stresses the importance of prioritizing services for homeless youth, describing them as an often invisible population in city planning.
Althea Stevens
4:19:59
While RHY providers costs continue to rise, their contract payments have remained stagnant and many of the providers are struggling to remain solvent.
4:20:08
What is the status of contract extensions and the very need to right size the RHY programs?
Jeremy Halbridge
4:20:18
Thank you for the question.
4:20:19
They are part of our FY twenty six continuation plan, so we are working feverishly to make sure they're registered for July 1.
4:20:26
As the Commissioner mentioned earlier, they are part of the conversations that we're having to potentially RFP that in the future.
Althea Stevens
4:20:36
Listen, this is this is another area where I have the provider screaming at my door on a regular basis of how they cannot sustain and so, you know we have to make sure this is a provider.
4:20:45
This is a very vulnerable population and also one that does not get attention because I feel like the city doesn't like to talk about a homeless population of kids, but we have them, they're here, and we need to continue to fight for them.
4:20:57
So I will continue to scream at the top of my lungs to make sure that they are getting the services that they deserve because you know even when we had a housing plan at one point, they didn't even include that in there and so understanding that young people feel invisible in this population and that's not okay with me, so we really have to make sure we make this a priority.