Death by deadline: Trump's HHS is making it impossible to protect homeless youth

Across the country, community-based organizations protecting youths experiencing homelessness are reeling.

On July 9, the Family and Youth Services Bureau at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released three of its long-awaited grant applications for the core programs under the federal Runaway and Homeless Youth Act: Transitional Living Programs, Maternity Group Homes and Basic Center Programs. These programs support thousands of youth annually through emergency shelter, transitional housing and supportive services for youth, young adults and young parents. 

But this year’s grant cycle is not just business as usual. Providers have been given just 14 days — instead of the standard 60 — to apply. That’s a 77 percent reduction in time for one of the most complex and essential federal grant programs serving young people. 

This deadline isn’t just unreasonable — it puts hundreds of youth-serving programs at risk of losing their funding.

Organizations are dropping everything to scramble through a needlessly rushed application process with no advance notice, no technical assistance, and no accommodations for the new and extremely demanding requirements. Many organizations’ grants are set to expire on Sept. 30. For many, losing their funding means losing their programs. If this happens, tens of thousands of youth could lose access to life-saving support. 

“This compressed timeline is devastating,” Catherine Hummel, executive director of DreamTree Project in Taos, N.M., tells me. “Like many nonprofits, our personnel are responsible for operations along with writing grants, which means that essential operations will suffer while focusing on this application. We are unsure if we will be able to submit a complete application on time.” 

The new grant applications include many complicated changes to previous years’ grant awards, not the least of which is the elimination of the Street Outreach Program as a standalone grant. This program was the only federal program solely focused on preventing the sexual exploitation, trafficking and abuse of runaway and homeless youth. It funded trained outreach workers who met youth where they are — in parking lots, gas stations, parks and drop-in centers — to build trust and connect them to safety. At least one in five youths experiencing homelessness are also trafficked for sex, labor or both, making the targeted work of street outreach both compassionate and life-saving. 

Outreach is a specialized, relationship-based service. Not every provider has the capacity, infrastructure or partnerships to deliver it effectively. But under the new grant applications, street outreach activities must be integrated into transitional living programs and maternity group homes.

This structural change, dropped with no guidance or forewarning, is a massive shift in the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act’s framework and of the Family and Youth Services Bureau’s interpretation of the statute. It imposes heavy new administrative burdens on transitional living or maternity group home providers who don’t already conduct outreach (which is many), including hiring dedicated, full-time outreach staff; preparing and implementing protocol for street outreach; and producing new Memoranda of Understanding with law enforcement agencies and outside, age-appropriate shelters.

Remember, providers have just 14 days to deliver all of this. 

The new law enforcement memoranda requirement for applicants is especially troubling. These agreements aren’t simple, one-page forms — they require relationship-building, intense collaboration, data-sharing terms, joint training plans, and confidentiality protections that must comply with federal law (34 USC §11275). Acquiring the necessary memoranda typically takes months — not only to plan and draft them, but also to have them reviewed by legal professionals. Rushing this process introduces serious compliance risks.  

The administration has also introduced an inappropriate and ideologically-driven requirement into grant applications: All programs must provide education, including to minors, emphasizing the merits of marriage for long-term economic success and well-being. This misguided requirement diverts time and resources away from the core services of housing, education, employment and health and raises legitimate concerns about government overreach. 

All of these changes fly in the face of the bipartisan support that the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act has enjoyed since its enactment in 1974. Just last month, Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb,.) and Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) introduced legislation to reauthorize the act and preserve the Street Outreach Program as a standalone grant. Congress understands what this administration seems to have forgotten: good youth services take time, partnership and care — not rushed bureaucracy and ideology. 

Let’s be clear: These changes are not about efficiency or accountability. They reflect a harmful and deliberate choice that disregards the realities of frontline work and the experiences youth face every day. Our young people experiencing homelessness deserve better than rushed timelines, ideological mandates and impossible expectations. And the people who serve them deserve the time, clarity and respect to do their jobs well. 

The stakes are too high to allow this process to go unchecked. 

Darla Bardine is executive director of the National Network for Youth.