ABSTRACT
While state- and national-level data on housing and employment outcomes for youth exiting foster care are scant, several state-level studies estimate that less than 50 percent of the youth “aging-out” of foster care are employed at the time of exit, and of those, most earn a wage below the poverty level (Goerge et al. 2002; Dunne 2004). If we extend this estimate to the U.S. aging-out population at large, only 10,000 of the nearly 20,000 youth exiting foster care annually are gainfully employed, albeit in low-wage jobs. Accordingly, many of these youth also lack housing permanency, likely because of (1) a lack of employment history, credit history, and lease co-signors; (2) limited availability of housing subsidies to offset expenses to meet basic needs; (3) restrictive housing subsidy rules; (4) lack of affordable housing in high-cost urban areas; and (5) a service gap in rural areas (GAO 2004).
