Sponsors (22)
Official title: To reauthorize the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 10, 2025 by Suzanne Bonamici · Last progress June 10, 2025
The bill greatly expands and stabilizes funding, standards, and data-driven supports for runaway and homeless youth—improving safety, access, and service quality—while increasing federal costs, administrative and privacy burdens, and favoring experienced providers over smaller or newer local organizations.
Homeless and runaway youth (and the nonprofits that serve them) gain substantially more stable, predictable funding and multi-year awards—dedicated appropriations and 5-year grant authorities increase service continuity and allow longer-term planning.
Vulnerable youth receive higher-quality, trauma-informed, culturally and linguistically appropriate services with explicit screening and responses for sexual assault and trafficking, plus expanded supportive services (life skills, counseling, SUD education, optional STI testing).
Programs and policymakers get better data and accountability—national reporting, annual grantee reporting, and collection of non-identifying trafficking and demographic indicators will improve program targeting, research, and funding decisions.
Taxpayers and the federal budget face increased and potentially open-ended spending obligations because of broad "such sums as necessary" authorities and expanded program commitments through 2030.
Nonprofits and local agencies will face significant new administrative, reporting, and service-delivery duties (FAFSA assistance, trafficking reporting, data collection, preparedness planning) that increase costs and may reduce funding available for direct services.
Expanded data collection and encouragement to share even deidentified information raises privacy and reidentification risks for small, highly vulnerable populations (e.g., trafficking survivors, immigrant youth), potentially exposing youth to harm if safeguards fail.
Based on analysis of 11 sections of legislative text.
Increases and authorizes multi-year funding, establishes 5-year grants and award-size tiers, adds trafficking-prevention and trauma-informed requirements, expands services and reporting, and tightens grantee certification.
Provides new funding and program rules for runaway and homeless youth programs, adds trafficking-prevention and trauma-informed requirements, sets multi-year grant lengths and minimum/maximum award amounts, and updates required services, data collection, and interagency coordination. It increases authorized funding for fiscal year 2026 and authorizes open-ended “such sums as necessary” for FY2027–2030 for most program parts, while revising program definitions, grant priorities, reporting, and waiver and appeals processes for grantees.