Home by the Bay: Youth Addendum

The purpose of the Youth Addendum is to lay a road map for a youth homelessness response system that ensures youth are housed and supported to build the skills, knowledge, resources, and community they need to thrive. Preventing, addressing, and ending youth homelessness is not only a moral imperative, but also a key strategy to halt the cycle of chronic homelessness and intergenerational trauma that is one of the root causes of the unhoused crisis in San Francisco.

How We Developed the Youth Addendum

The Youth Addendum is a companion to San Francisco’s Home by the Bay strategic plan. It reflects months of collaboration with youth service providers, public agencies, community advocates, and young people with lived experience.

Over the course of five months, HSH’s Planning and Strategy team convened more than 125 stakeholders to identify what young people experiencing homelessness need from the City’s homelessness response system. These discussions focused on youth experiencing homelessness in San Francisco, including:

• Unaccompanied minors
• Transitional-aged youth (TAY) ages 18–24
• Young adults ages 25–27 (and, depending on funding sources, youth up to age 29)

The purpose of the Youth Addendum is to lay out a road map for a youth homelessness response system that ensures young people are safely housed and supported to build the skills, stability, and community they need to thrive. Preventing and ending youth homelessness is a moral and equity imperative—and a key strategy for interrupting chronic and intergenerational homelessness in San Francisco.

This addendum builds on the foundation of Home by the Bay, tailoring its strategies and activities to youth needs, and adding new, youth-driven approaches developed with partners.

For full detail, data, and implementation activities, please refer to the complete Youth Addendum to the Home by the Bay Plan.

Youth-Focused Strategic Priorities

HSH and community partners identified seven strategic priorities to guide San Francisco’s work to reduce and end youth homelessness. These priorities align with the five Action Areas of Home by the Bay.

Action Area 1: Advancing Racial Equity & Housing Justice

• Strategic Priority 1: Center youth voice in shaping systems-level change.

Action Area 2: Enhancing System Performance and Capacity

• Strategic Priority 2: Ensure the redesigned Coordinated Entry system reflects a commitment to equitably serving youth and uses youth-appropriate assessments, policies, and practices.
• Strategic Priority 3: Improve educational and employment opportunities for youth.
• Strategic Priority 4: Expand capacity building, training, and sustainability supports for frontline staff.

Action Area 3: Strengthening Response to Unsheltered Homelessness

• Strategic Priority 5: Expand programs that address the immediate needs of unsheltered youth and support their long-term goals.

Action Area 4: Increasing Stable & Successful Entries into Permanent Housing

• Strategic Priority 6: Equitably expand youth-centered housing and supportive services that function as a coordinated system and meet the diverse needs of youth ages 18–29.

Action Area 5: Preventing People from Experiencing Homelessness

• Strategic Priority 7: Expand youth-specific prevention and problem-solving strategies.

Looking Ahead

To keep momentum and ensure the Youth Addendum drives meaningful progress, HSH and partners will continue coordinated implementation, stakeholder engagement, and youth participation throughout FY 2025–26 and FY 2026–27. Key next steps include:

• Setting implementation priorities for FY 2025–26 and FY 2026–27 in collaboration with youth, providers, and system partners.
• Continuing monthly stakeholder convenings in 2025 to maintain alignment, collaboration, and shared problem-solving.
• Developing a detailed implementation plan that defines timelines, roles, responsibilities, and measurable outcomes.
• Hosting quarterly youth convenings in 2026 to ensure youth remain at the center of planning and execution.