All youth aging out of foster care in NYC are eligible to receive home goods from City Living NY. Youth are referred to us from many different partners city wide, and the first step in every relationship begins with a home goods assessment. We review a list of common home goods, broken down by room, and see what items each young person needs to turn their house into a home. Youth pick out their own color and design choices so they really feel their home reflects their vision and style – our youth select their own shower curtain, duvet cover/comforter, and window coverings. City Living NY provides these household goods within a couple of weeks, and then checks-in on a quarterly basis to ensure housing stability. We invite the youth to our monthly workshops and trainings, where they benefit from the peer community and interactions that occur there. Some of these workshops have included financial budgeting, nutrition, stress management, self-care and a variety of other topics.

Our housing check-in is designed to assure any issues that could impact housing stability are detected early, avoiding the risk of homelessness facing one in four youth aging out of foster care. These youth are able to transition into our comprehensive program if they wish to work more closely with a social worker.