The Runaway and Homeless Youth program is authorized by the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, and funds organizations throughout the country to provide services to youth who have run away and/or experience homelessness. The program, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), includes three components: (1) the Basic Center program (BCP), which provides outreach, temporary shelter, and counseling for up to 21 days to youth under age 18 who have run away or are homeless; (2) the Transitional Living program (TLP), which supports residential services and services to youth ages 16 through 21 for up to 18 months; and (3) the Street Outreach program (SOP), which provides street-based outreach and education—including treatment and referrals—for runaway and homeless youth who have been subjected to sexual abuse and exploitation or are otherwise on the street. Funding authorization for the programs expired on September 30, 2013. The federal government, led by an independent agency known as the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), has developed a plan for ending youth homelessness. In 2010, USICH released Opening Doors, which included goals of ending chronic homelessness and homelessness among youth and other specified populations. An amendment to the plan in 2012 specifically introduced the Federal Framework to End Youth Homelessness, which includes improved data collection on these youth and developing and testing effective intervention models. This plan is consistent with the 2008 reauthorization of the Runaway and Homeless Youth program, which directed HHS to estimate the number of youth who have run away or are homeless and to assess the characteristics of these youth. Congress may wish to determine whether actions taken by HHS and its partners are addressing the data requirements in the law. Related to this, little is known about the outcomes of youth who participate in programs funded under the act. Congress may also be interested in the extent to which the Runaway and Homeless Youth program should more actively engage the families of runaway and homeless youth. Family conflict is a primary reason why youth leave home or are forced to leave home. The Runaway and Homeless Youth Act addresses family relationships primarily through the BCP. Some providers have models for helping build stronger connections between youth and their families. Another issue that may be of interest is demand. The programs serve a small fraction of the overall number of youth believed to be runaway or homeless, and the number of youth turned away from the BCP and TLP due to a lack of capacity has ranged from about 9,000 to 11,000 annually. Advocates assert that additional funding is needed to serve more youth, particularly because other federal funding sources for homeless service are believed to be limited. For example, the Continuum of Care (CoC) program directs homeless service providers to coordinate with runaway and homeless youth providers; however, CoC funding may not be available to some Runaway and Homeless Youth program grantees that are already not CoC funded. Finally, runaway and homeless youth tend to have multiple challenges. Congress may consider the role that the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act could play in meeting the specific needs of youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, or questioning (LGBTQ); youth who are sex trafficked; and youth who are or were engaged in foster care or the juvenile justice system. For example, recent research on LGBTQ youth suggests that some RHY providers have difficulty identifying this population and could benefit from technical assistance for serving them effectively. In addition, runaway and homeless youth appear to be vulnerable to sex trafficking and some have a history of such victimization. The act could be amended to ensure that training and technical assistance is available to RHY providers to assist particular groups of youth

There is no single definition of the terms "runaway youth" or "homeless youth." However, both groups of youth share the risk of not having adequate shelter and other provisions, and may engage in harmful behaviors while away from a permanent home. These two groups also include "thrownaway" youth who are asked to leave their homes, and may include other vulnerable youth populations, such as current and former foster youth and youth with mental health or other issues. Youth most often cite family conflict as the major reason for their homelessness or episodes of running away. A youth's relationship with a step-parent, sexual activity, sexual orientation, pregnancy, school problems, and alcohol and drug use are strong predictors of family discord. The precise number of homeless and runaway youth is unknown due to their residential mobility and overlap among the populations. Determining the number of these youth is further complicated by the lack of a standardized methodology for counting the population and inconsistent definitions of what it means to be homeless or a runaway. Estimates of the homeless youth exceed 1 million. Estimates of runaway youth-including "thrownaway" youth (youth asked or forced to leave their homes)-are between 1 million and 1.7 million in a given year. From the early 20th century through the 1960s, the needs of runaway and homeless youth were handled locally through the child welfare agency, juvenile justice courts, or both. The 1970s marked a shift toward federal oversight of programs that help youth who had run afoul of the law, including those who committed status offenses (i.e., running away). In 1974, Congress passed the Runaway Youth Act of 1974 as Title III of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (P.L. 93-415) to assist runaways through services specifically for this population. The federal Runaway and Homeless Youth Program (RHYP) has since been expanded through reauthorization laws enacted approximately every five years since the 1970s, most recently by the Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act (P.L. 110-378) in 2008. Funding authorization expired in FY2013, and Congress has continued to appropriate funding for the act: $114.1 million was appropriated for FY2015. The Runaway and Homeless Youth program is made up of three components-the Basic Center Program, Transitional Living Program, and Street Outreach Program. The Basic Center Program provides temporary shelter, counseling, and after care services to runaway and homeless youth under age 18 and their families. The BCP has served approximately 31,000 to 36,000 annually in recent years. The Transitional Living Program is targeted to older youth ages 16 through 22 (and sometimes an older age), and has served approximately 3,000 to 3,500 youth annually in recent years. Youth who use the TLP receive longer-term housing with supportive services. The Street Outreach Program provides education, treatment, counseling, and referrals for runaway, homeless, and street youth who have been subjected to or are at risk of being subjected to sexual abuse and exploitation. Each year, the SOP makes hundreds of thousands of contacts with street youth (some of whom have multiple contacts). Related services authorized by the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act include a national communication system to facilitate communication between service providers, runaway youth, and their families; training and technical support for grantees; and evaluations of the programs, among other activities. The 2008 reauthorizing legislation expanded the program, requiring HHS to conduct an incidence and prevalence study of runaway and homeless youth. To date, this study has not been conducted; however, efforts are underway among multiple federal agencies to collect better information on these youth as part of a larger strategy to end youth homelessness by 2020.

The exact number of runaway and homeless youth in the nation is not known. Various sources estimate that at any given time, the number of such youth falls between 500,000 and 2.8 million. In the early 1970s, concern about runaway youth gained national prominence because of a noticeable increase in the number of such youth. At that time, it was reported that one million youth in the nation left home without parental or guardian permission. In January 1972, two-day congressional hearings began a process that eventually led to the passage of the 1974 Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA, P.L. 93-415). As Title III of JJDPA, the Runaway Youth Act (RYA) encouraged states to improve local treatment of at-risk youth. Federal funding was provided to states that agreed to deinstitutionalize runaway youth and other status offenders (such as truants) and provide them with shelter, food, counseling and other necessities. Such emergency assistance, through what was termed the Basic Center Program (BCP), was delivered apart from the law enforcement, mental health, child welfare, and juvenile justice systems. In 1977, RYA was expanded to include homeless youth, and the name of the act changed to the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA). Subsequently, two additional programs were created and funded through the act -- the Transitional Living Program (TLP) for older homeless youth, and the Street Outreach Program (SOP) to remove runaway and homeless youth from the streets and protect them from possible sexual abuse and exploitation. On October 10, 2003, the Runaway, Homeless, and Missing Children Protection Act (RHMCPA) was signed into law (P.L. 108-96) reauthorizing and amending RHYA and the Missing Children's Assistance Act (MCAA) for FY2004 through FY2008. RHMCPA authorized grants to local and private groups to create and operate local runaway and homeless youth shelters. Also, maternity group homes were added as an allowable activity under the TLP. For FY2004, $105 million was authorized for the Consolidated Runaway and Homeless Youth Program (RHYP), which combined BCP and TLP, and such sums as necessary for FY2005 through FY2008. SOP was authorized for such sums as necessary for FY2004 through FY2008. Congress appropriated, however, $89.4 million for RHYP for FY2004, and $15.3 million for SOP. For FY2005, Congress allocated $88.7 million for RHYP and $15.1 million for SOP. For FY2006, $87.8 million was appropriated for RHYP, and $15.0 million for SOP. The President requested the same funding levels for FY2007 that were enacted for FY2006 for both RHYP and SOP. In the 109th Congress, three bills have been introduced that would amend RHYA to include provisions related to maternity group homes -- S. 6 (the Marriage, Opportunity, Relief, and Empowerment Act of 2005), H.R. 3908 (the Charitable Giving Act), and S. 1780 (the CARE Act of 2005). Each was referred to the appropriate Committee. No further action has occurred. This report will be updated as warranted.