For years, youth providers in Kent County, Michigan, saw young people arrive at their doors too late. They had turned 18 or 21 and aged out of foster care. Many had spent time couch-surfing or sleeping outside before anyone connected them to housing. By then, many had missed the window for transition support, and some had rocky histories with the agencies meant to help them.
Today, housing staff hear about those young people months before they leave care. Here’s how the community built that handoff.
A pattern providers could see
Kent County includes Grand Rapids, a city of nearly 200,000, and a largely suburban county of just over 650,000 people. The community joined Built for Zero in 2021. Over the next several years, it built an accurate, real-time picture of who is experiencing homelessness locally, starting with adults facing chronic homelessness. By the end of 2025, it had built the same picture for young people.
That work made one gap clear. Young people leaving foster care weren’t getting connected to housing help early enough.
Bringing the right partners to the table
Closing that gap meant working across systems that don’t always coordinate. In Michigan, the state Department of Health and Human Services oversees child welfare. Private agencies such as Bethany Christian Services and D.A. Blodgett run local foster care and independent living programs.
Kent County’s youth homelessness work took shape through a federal grant program focused on young people. From the start, the community brought in young people with lived experience through a Youth Action Board and invited every relevant partner to participate. Leaders had the hard conversations early, before deciding how to spend the money.
Providers also invested in relationships before anyone drafted an agreement. They met with partner staff and young people, built shared ownership over results, and let each agency choose how to take part. Some agencies started with simple referral partnerships, while others placed staff on site.
A handoff that starts months early
Those relationships led to formal agreements with the county’s major child welfare and foster care providers. The agreements spell out who does what and how referrals move between agencies.
Early notice
Child welfare agencies now notify housing staff at AYA Youth Collective and Arbor Circle 90 days to six months before a young person turns 18 or 21. That gives providers time to sit down with each young person, talk through housing options, and start preparing long before they leave state care.
The early start also gives young people a chance to build trust with providers outside the foster care system, which matters when past relationships have been complicated. Providers report that fewer young people lose touch with services altogether when they leave care.
Help in one place
State human services staff now work inside AYA’s youth drop-in center. A young person who walks in can connect with benefits and get on the community’s priority list for housing in the same visit. When another agency refers a young person, the center automatically schedules a single appointment covering basic needs, health care, and housing.
Trusted outreach teams reach young people who may never walk through that door. They meet young people in encampments and unstable housing and identify those with foster care histories. They also walk young people to appointments and help them get the documents they need.
Flexible dollars for the last mile
Many young people leaving foster care qualify for Foster Youth to Independence vouchers, federal rental assistance set aside for them. The Grand Rapids Housing Commission knows its voucher supply well, and staff at every entry point know exactly where to send referrals. Kent County has put those vouchers to use so quickly that the housing commission has requested more.
A voucher is only the first step. Application fees, vital documents, and move-in costs are often the biggest hurdles for young people. AYA and Arbor Circle cover those expenses with flexible funding, which providers say has been critical to getting young people housed.
Taking the ego out of the work
Kent County credits its progress to the commitment of local providers and a culture of hard but kind conversations. Some agencies finalized agreements in a few weeks, while others took up to three months because of state contract requirements. Leaders kept partners focused on getting young people connected to the resources they need. They also fit the new work into routines partners already had.
At the end of 2025, youth providers, the local Continuum of Care, the Youth Action Board, and the Kent Intermediate School District hosted a community event called We Exist. The event brought in new partners and relaunched the local youth committee as an active working group.
What’s next
Kent County staff are now working with state human services staff and young people with lived experience in a six-month national learning cohort. The cohort focuses on preventing homelessness among young people leaving foster care.
Next priorities include deepening partnerships with the juvenile justice system and expanding work with grassroots organizations. The community also plans to strengthen support for young people after they move into housing and to better support Black and Brown young people, who are overrepresented in the system.
When child welfare agencies, housing providers, and youth organizations work from the same plan, young people can leave care with a path home already in place.
Read the full Kent County case study, including a checklist for communities ready to try this approach.
