Programs  >  Housing

Diamond Youth Shelter: For homeless and runaway teens

All homelessness is sad. But it is especially shocking as well as heartbreaking to see younger kids and homeless teens, often only 12, 15 or 17, who should clearly be living in a home environment with their families – and are instead, living on the streets. These homeless children and teenage runaways come from family environments that have broken down or where their parents may be unwilling or unable to continue to support and guide them through their adolescent years. And every time you pass a younger kid who is living on the street, you can imagine the years of potential that is being lost.

The first thing anyone on the streets needs is a safe place to sleep and homeless children and teenage runaways need shelter among others of their own age, under the care of stable adults. Larkin Street Youth Services offers these most vulnerable and at-risk youth ages 12-17, safety and security off the streets through our Diamond Youth Shelter.

The Diamond Youth Shelter, rebuilt thanks to the success of an ambitious capital campaign in 2009, is a state-of-the-art emergency shelter for younger homeless youth and teens. This youth shelter is considered temporary housing for Larkin Street youth not because these kids will be returning to the street, but because staff help them to either reunite with their families or find an appropriate longer-term housing solutions.

Kids often access Diamond late at night during a crisis situation. When a kid first comes to the Shelter, Larkin Street staff conduct an individual intake to determine that all of their immediate needs are identified and met. Counselors can then contact parents or guardians to assure them of the child’s safety and to determine whether reunification is a possibility. Diamond Youth Shelter then provides these at-risk youth with a bed, food, new clothes, showers, laundry services, lockers and crisis counseling. Staff members help to bring stability to the lives of Diamond kids by providing them with basic necessities and encouraging them to access other Larkin Street services at the Sutter Street Drop-In Center. Diamond Youth Shelter is more than just a warm bed for the youngest kids on the streets of our city. It is their launching pad for healthy and productive futures.

Each year, Diamond Youth Shelter provides shelter to approximately 100 homeless children and runaway teens ages 18 or younger.

Lark-Inn for Youth: Emergency housing for homeless and at-risk young adults

There are a myriad of youth services to help homeless children and runaway teens under the age of 18. For those who are able to access these programs, school activities, charitable programs, and even foster care are available to help teens through the difficult years of adolescence. But when youth turn 18, many of these safety-net sources of support dry up. Homeless and at-risk youth over age 18 who are living on the streets, couch surfing or aging out of foster care often need significant help even after they reach the arbitrary milestone that society defines as adulthood.

The Lark-Inn is San Francisco’s first and only full-service homeless shelter specifically for youth where young adults can get off the streets and begin to stabilize their lives. Launched in 2000, the Lark-Inn is part of the City of San Francisco’s homeless shelter network and the only shelter designated for transition age youth ages 18 – 24.

The Lark-Inn’s two-story facility includes 40 beds, a computer lab, kitchen and dining area, laundry facilities, bathrooms, and a kennel for pets. As a youth shelter, the Lark-Inn meets the specific developmental needs of young people transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. As an incentive to Lark-Inn residents who show ongoing progress toward goals identified in their case plan, the program offers the Gateway program, a semi-private living area that comes with a private bathroom with bathtub, a TV lounge and fewer restrictions. Gateway mirrors their next step in life, a more stable housing situation.

The Lark-Inn is an emergency housing solution and an entry point to Larkin Street’s full continuum of programs for homeless and runaway youth, including case management, education, health care, and job training. Lark-Inn Staff members balance compassion and accountability to develop trusting relationships with youth while encouraging them to reach their full potential.

Examples of success abound in the case histories of Lark-Inn residents. A 19-year-old from Kentucky escaped the home where she had been molested and eventually found shelter from homelessness at Lark Inn, where she stayed long enough to complete Certified Nursing Assistant training and find a full-time job. Another 19-year-old left gang life and overcame an abusive past at Lark-Inn, landing a job, building his savings, and finally signing a lease on his first apartment. An 18-year-old runaway living at Lark-Inn used Larkin Street’s employment programs to find a construction job and, with help from case managers, worked out his differences with his family.

Between 350 and 400 youth are housed at the Lark-Inn each year.

Assisted Care/Aftercare: Housing and Services for HIV positive youth

Youth living on San Francisco’s streets and homeless youth everywhere are extremely susceptible to HIV infection. Those who are HIV-positive also require specialized care so they can rebuild their hopes for the future. To meet the unique needs of these young people, Larkin Street Youth Services offers comprehensive housing and medical care, in addition to our agency-wide HIV prevention outreach and education services.

Assisted Care Program

For HIV-positive youth who need extra attention and medical treatment, Larkin Street operates the Assisted Care Program. The Assisted Care facility was the first residential facility for HIV-positive youth in the nation. The program houses up to twelve HIV-positive youth at a time, providing those who require special assistance in their everyday lives with safe, stable housing supplemented with a spectrum of health care and social services. The treatment philosophy of the Assisted Care Program at Larkin Street promotes strong peer support, structured activities, on-site supervision, counseling and medical services in a relaxed setting.

On the first floor of the Assisted Care Program’s three-story facility, an HIV Specialty Clinic provides primary health care. 24-hour care and medical support is available for all Assisted Care clients. In addition to medical care, Assisted Care Program residents have access to trained case managers and counselors who assess for mental health or substance abuse treatment issues and link them with psychiatric care as needed.

Residents take an active role in the Assisted Care Program. Weekly meetings build community and give those living in the program a voice in how their home is run. Assisted Care residents visit farmer’s markets to learn about nutrition, express themselves through art activities, and learn ways to take care of their whole being. Ongoing life skills workshops help them build practical and interpersonal skills to support independent living. They share a large communal area, kitchen, dining facilities, and a living and recreation room.

The services offered at the Assisted Care Program allow youth to reclaim the control they often feel was lost when they became HIV-positive. More importantly, the community they form at Larkin Street gives them back the hope that faltered when they lived on the streets.

Assisted Care houses approximately 40 – 45 HIV-positive youth annually.

Aftercare Program

For HIV-positive youth who lack stable housing but possess the health and life skills to live independently in the community, Larkin Street offers the Aftercare Program. Aftercare complements medical services provided at the Clinic with rental subsidies for housing in the community. Aftercare participants also access case management and the full array of Larkin Street’s other support services, including education and employment. The Aftercare Program promotes self-sufficiency and self-esteem by enabling young people to maintain privacy and independence, while ensuring a consistent link to Larkin Street’s HIV services.

Each year, Aftercare provides rental subsidies to house 40 – 50 HIV-positive youth in the community.

The LOFT: Housing for Homeless Teens

Not every homeless youth who comes to Larkin Street Youth Services has the option of going back home. If reuniting with family is possible for underage youth, Larkin Street works diligently to facilitate this. But when it’s not, kids up to 18 years of age or kids emancipating from the foster care system can make their home at Larkin Opportunities for Transition (The LOFT).

The LOFT is a 9-bed transitional living facility and licensed group home designed specifically for homeless teens and runaway teens who have been living on the street. The LOFT is a stable home for these kids as long as they need it, giving them the chance to do the things others their age should: complete their education, make new friends, and prepare for adulthood.

The at-risk and homeless kids who live at The LOFT have similar histories as other the youth at Larkin Street. Most have experienced physical abuse, sexual abuse, and extreme neglect. Many struggle with substance abuse issues and have special mental health care needs. And these kids are often impacted by street violence which continues to occur in their old neighborhoods and affects their friends and families.

The LOFT is different from other group homes and foster homes where many kids of this age end up. This Larkin Street Youth Services program uses a system of natural rewards and consequences which follow from the choices these youth make for themselves. This unique model reinforces positive behavior that supports the individual goals set by the kids themselves with assistance from LOFT staff. The LOFT thus emulates the sort of structure that healthy families use with their own teens. There are curfews, chores, and other expectations. Kids receive privileges for behaving responsibly, and limitations (somewhat like being grounded) for breaking the rules. This method provides youth with the opportunity to be accountable and trustworthy.

All residents at The LOFT develop educational goals. They each attend some sort of daily school or educational program. They also engage in intensive job training, career readiness activities, and interest-based activities such as photography classes or school sports. These experiences help at-risk and homeless youth to develop life skills such as budgeting, cooking, and managing conflicts with roommates, which they need to become self-sufficient after they move on from The LOFT.

Like participants in all of Larkin Street’s residential programs, residents at the LOFT receive individualized case management, access health and mental health care, find opportunities to socialize with peers who understand their past experiences, and receive mentoring and support from caring adult role models. When families are unable to provide the support these kids need, The LOFT is there to bridge the gap between childhood and adulthood for our most vulnerable youth.

Every year, the LOFT keeps 20 kids off the streets of San Francisco.

LEASE: For Emancipating Foster Care Youth

When kids don’t have families who are able to care for them, the U.S. foster care system is there to fill the gap. But as these youth approach their eighteenth birthdays, they face the reality that they will now be fully responsible for supporting themselves on their own. Hundreds of youth emancipate from foster care in California each year without any training, preparation or financial means to support themselves. As a result, an alarming percentage of emancipated foster youth exit the foster care system only to land on the streets.

For 18- to 24-year-old former foster kids who land on the streets, in 2003, Larkin Street created the Larkin Extended Aftercare for Supported Emancipation (LEASE) Program. The LEASE Program is not a homeless youth shelter but instead the program places at- risk youth in their own apartments while providing wrap-around support in the form of counseling, employment training, referrals, and case management to ensure that emancipated youth develop the skills and resources to retain stable housing in the long-term.

LEASE participants are screened and referred by San Francisco’s Independent Living Skills Program (ILSP), which facilitates transitions for recently emancipated foster youth. After an intake process, LEASE clients settle into their new homes and begin working closely with Larkin Street Youth Service’s case managers to plan for the stable futures they will achieve after they leave the program. LEASE emphasizes training in life skills for youth: managing money, retaining employment, self-care, and maintaining housing.

LEASE helps youth create individual goals and life plans to meet their diverse needs. For example, a single young mother may go through job training, learn budgeting skills, and develop educational goals while in the program. Another young person may gain the skills he needs to be promoted in his current job, take care of neglected chronic health problems, and enroll in community college. All participants in the LEASE program receive education counseling and most attend college on a part- or full-time basis. Whatever path LEASE participants take toward success, Larkin Street staff are there to support them along their way. Their graduation from LEASE is a true emancipation from dependence to the success of self-sufficiency and independent adulthood.

LEASE serves approximately 75 former foster youth each year housed throughout San Francisco and the East Bay.

Castro Youth Housing Initiative: For youth who identify as LGBTQ

Larkin Street Youth Services began as an effort to serve homeless youth in the Tenderloin and Polk Gulch neighborhoods of San Francisco. The origin is still reflected in our name, but we know that kids live on the streets of other neighborhoods as well.

Our Castro Youth Housing Initiative was conceived in the same way Larkin Street originally was: by a group of residents, business owners, and social service providers concerned with the number of kids living on the streets of their community. With the help of San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty and many other community representatives, Larkin Street responded with an initiative to bring supportive housing to homeless youth — many of whom identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender — in the Castro region of the city.

In addition to housing, services include case management, life skills training, referrals for mental health and/or substance abuse counseling, and access to Larkin Street’s full continuum, including educational support and employment training. They pay half of their income in rent to encourage responsibility and to gain budgeting skills. They meet weekly with their case manager individually and as a group to ensure that they receive all the support and life-skill building they need to take necessary steps toward reaching greater independence.

Some of the young adults in the Castro Youth Housing Initiative cannot yet succeed in other transitional housing programs because of their substance abuse and/or mental health needs. That doesn’t mean that we give up on them. There is ample peer support and mentorship from understanding adults. This is especially important to youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. For those who have been marginalized by their families and communities, the Castro Youth Housing Initiative is a place that accepts them for who they are and helps them successfully determine who they will become.

Larkin Street launched the program in 2004; it has since grown from nine to 26 units of supportive housing.

Routz: For Homeless Youth Needing Additional Mental Health Support

Update: Youth move into the Aarti, housing for mental health services program through Routz

One of the most profound trends among the young people Larkin Street serves is around the need for more expansive mental health services linked to housing. In 2009, Larkin Street began planning with Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC)to expand our Routz program, which provides housing and wraparound support services for those in our care with the greatest mental health needs. We are pleased to announce that our capacity to house youth through Routz more than doubled when youth moved into the Aarti Hotel in November 2011. TNDC provides property management and Larkin Street offers case management, therapeutic services, and other wraparound supports to help residents address their mental health needs and build critical life skills. The Aarti is now home to 40 youth between the ages of 18 and 24, and we offer an additional ten youth scattered-site apartments in the community. After years of planning, we are thrilled to see the project come together and create a more robust and service-rich housing option for these vulnerable young people.

Given the trauma so many homeless youth have experienced during their young lives due to abuse or neglect in their homes and/or due to the violence and exploitation of life on they have seen living on the streets, it is not surprising that so many homeless kids suffer from mental health issues and engage in substance abuse. Mental health and substance abuse also may themselves contribute to youth becoming homeless, because parents or guardians are unable or unwilling to meet their behavioral health needs.

Once these vulnerable youth land on the streets, their mental health and substance abuse issues are often exacerbated due to the threat of violence and exploitation they experience living on the streets. Anxiety disorders, post traumatic stress disorder, and suicide attempts are alarmingly common among youth on the streets and many turn to drug use as a means of self-medicating and escape.

Youth with mental health and substance abuse issues have unique and complex needs for housing. To address this unmet need among homeless youth in San Francisco, in 2007, Larkin Street launched Routz with funding through the State’s Mental Health Services Act. The Routz housing program provides service-rich supportive housing to youth with severe mental health needs and dual diagnosis. Routz provides 22 beds of supportive housing for youth with Severe Mental Illness or Severe Emotional Disturbance.

Larkin Street works closely with the City of San Francisco’s Community Behavioral Health Services to identify and link homeless and at-risk youth who are most appropriate for Routz housing. Once enrolled in Routz, residents have access through Larkin Street Youth Service’s continuum of programs and community partners like the Family Services Agency to intensive case management, psychiatric assessment and treatment, peer-based support, and job training.

Undiagnosed and untreated behavioral health issues contribute to long-term, chronic homelessness. Routz enables Larkin Street to intervene early and help youth along the road to recovery.

Every year Routz provides 30-40 mentally-challenged homeless youth with service-rich housing in San Francisco.

Avenues to Independence (ATI): Housing for Transition Aged Youth

Turning eighteen does not make every young person magically ready to plunge into adulthood. Even a young adult who has had the benefit of a safe home and caring family needs additional guidance about forging a path to self-sufficiency. Imagine how much more support a kid who has had to just survive on the streets—must need.

Larkin Street Youth Services provides homeless youth ages 18-24 with stable longer term housing of up to 2 years through the Avenues to Independence (ATI) Program. ATI assists young adults as they step from adolescence to adulthood by providing them with a comprehensive set of services along with stable housing.

These homeless youth come to Larkin Street either after being marginally housed couch surfing among friends or acquaintances, living on the streets, staying at emergency shelters, or from foster care settings. The majority of ATI residents enter Larkin Street’s program with very few practical life skills, minimal job history or transferable skills, little to no emotional support, and are sometimes struggling with substance abuse and/or mental health issues.

The 15-bed Avenues to Independence program is designed to be the final step in each youth’s transition to independent living. This youth program both addresses a youth’s immediate needs for stable housing while preventing future episodes of homelessness. ATI strives to eliminate homelessness by engaging youth, teaching them life skills, and helping them build self-esteem and healthy, life-long habits to support their independence.

ATI attempts to model real world situations at all possible times in order to foster the independence and life skills necessary for success when youth leave the program. Residents of ATI live as any young adult would, paying rent, working or training for careers, and completing their educations through GED courses or college classes. Counselors model life skills such as budgeting and taking good care of themselves and their homes. By the end of their time at ATI, youth not only have housing and job prospects, but also community and self-determination. When they are ready to move forward into their new lives, their ATI rent payments are refunded to give them a head start on their promising new adult lives.

Each year, 25 – 35 young adults make ATI their home while transitioning to self-sufficiency. Typically, 100% of youth who complete the program each year transition to stable housing.

G-House: Housing for Transition Aged Youth 18-24

Transition age youth (aged 18 – 24) are among the fastest-growing segments of San Francisco’s homeless population. Even kids raised in supportive homes with the resources they need for success require help and guidance during the important transition from adolescence to adulthood. For those with traumatic histories of abuse, neglect, and time on the streets, this support is especially critical.

G-House is a 20-bed housing program for homeless transition-aged youth that Larkin Street Youth Services took over form Catholic Charities CYO in 2007. Similar to Larkin Street’s original transitional living program for older youth, Avenues to Independence (ATI), G-House provides up to 24 months of stable, service-rich housing in a facility with 24-hour staffing. Like so many of those Larkin Street serves, residents at G-House face daunting obstacles to their long-time success.

Through onsite case management, life skills training, and mental health and substance abuse counseling, residents access the full range of support they need to overcome the obstacles that stand in their way. They develop positive peer and adult relationships, and learn how to integrate recovery, self-care, and self-sufficiency into their lives. Larkin Street helps them move from crisis mode toward building a solid plan for the future.

Absent timely and comprehensive intervention, these youth are at risk of becoming San Francisco’s next generation of chronically homeless adults. G-House intervenes when these youth need it most — at a time when they can benefit fully from the resilience of youth and put their lives back on track toward a bright future.

Annually, approximately 50 youth reside at G-House, and 85% of those who complete the program move on to stable housing.

Holloway House: Housing for Transition Aged Youth 18-24

The foster care system is designed to provide kids whose families cannot care for them with a safe, nurturing, and supportive home. Thousands of children benefit from this system each year in San Francisco. Unfortunately, as these kids approach their 18th birthday, the system fails far too many of them. Each year, hundreds of former foster youth emancipate from the system in California without the means to support themselves. Tragically, they land on the streets.

In 2003, Larkin Street launched our LEASE program, which provides subsidized housing in the community giving former foster youth a “practice run” at independence in their own apartments. Some former foster youth are not ready to make the leap to independent, community-based housing, however. Therefore, in 2007 Larkin Street launched Holloway House, where up to eight former foster youth live together and build the skills necessary for long-term independence.

Holloway House is not just another group home experience like those experienced by many foster youth while they were in the system. Like Larkin Street’s other transitional housing programs, Holloway House balances youth accountability with staff support. We want participants to have easy access to staff, yet we also want them to develop the skills required for long-term self-sufficiency.

Holloway House serves as an important stepping-stone for former foster youth who need that extra support toward achieving adult independence. It is one more option Larkin Street can offer to meet the diverse, complicated, and evolving needs of the youth we serve.

Annually, approximately 20 youth reside at Holloway House, providing over 2,500 nights off the street for former fosters youth.

Ellis Street Apartments

Larkin Street staff know from our over 25 years of experience that the most effective way to bring someone in off the streets is to provide them with housing and a full range of services in a single location. This is known in social services as “supportive housing”. The concept allows people the ability to receive services where they live to more successfully address the causes of their homelessness.

Larkin Street Youth Services, through a partnership with the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC), offers a permanent supportive housing solution to homeless youth and young adults at our Ellis Street Apartments. The young people live in the Ellis Street apartment building’s 24 studio units, six of which are reserved for youth diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.

Youth, like adults, are more likely to participate in programs that are easily accessible. At the Ellis Street Apartments, case management is conducted on-site and just down the street, Larkin Street provides educational opportunities and employment training at the Hire Up center, as well as delivers primary medical care, HIV services, and positive recreational activities.

The Ellis Street Apartments offer young people normal city apartment life enhanced with the help that they need to maintain permanent housing. The result is a program in which residents experience self-sufficiency while receiving the support necessary to maintain it.