Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act of 2025
The Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act of 2025 reauthorizes and expands the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act programs. It aims to strengthen federal support for centers and services that provide safe shelter, trauma-informed care, counseling, and family engagement for runaway, homeless, street, and at-risk youth, with a clear focus on preventing trafficking and exploitation. The bill increases grant terms to five years for basic centers, transitional living programs, and related street-outreach efforts, and expands program rules to emphasize trauma-informed, culturally and linguistically appropriate services, online outreach, and coordinated care across multiple agencies. It also broadens age coverage (notably allowing ages up to 26 in certain contexts) and adds new reporting, data collection, and privacy requirements to better track who is served and the impact of services, including trafficking involvement and outcomes. Key thematic shifts include: stronger emphasis on trafficking prevention and victim support; expanded use of online and social media for outreach; enhanced coordination with housing, education, labor, and justice agencies; a nondiscrimination framework with guardrails; and a new administration/waiver mechanism to accommodate extraordinary circumstances while maintaining youth safety. Overall, the bill seeks to create a more integrated, youth-centered system that facilitates safe housing, education and employment pathways, and protection from trafficking for a broader group of at-risk youth.
Key Points
- 1Basic Center Grant Program updates
- 2- 5-year grants to public/nonprofit entities to establish, operate, and renovate local centers providing safe shelter (generally up to 30 days) and trauma-informed services, plus optional family services. An appeal process for grantees is established.
- 3- Services must be age- and developmentally appropriate, culturally and linguistically sensitive, and may include street-based services, testing for STIs, trauma-informed care, and family engagement assessments. Data collection provisions require privacy protections to avoid identifying individual youth.
- 4Transitional Living Grant Program updates
- 5- 5-year grants to provide shelter and related services (group homes, host family homes, supervised apartments) with defined capacity ranges (minimum 4, maximum about 20 per project, with some exceptions for licensure). Requires a written transitional living plan for each youth and enhanced coordination/referral across social services, education/training, legal, health, and trafficking wrap-around supports.
- 6- New reporting requirements, annual project outcomes, and aftercare provisions. Youth status as independent students for higher education aid is recognized and supported.
- 7Focus on trafficking prevention and street outreach
- 8- New authority and funding for 5-year grants dedicated to street-based services for youth subjected to, or at risk of, sexual abuse and trafficking. Priorities go to entities with RHY experience and demonstrated capacity to tailor services to age, gender, and cultural background.
- 9Expanded outreach and data/privacy requirements
- 10- Encourages use of online resources and social media for outreach. Requires robust data collection on youth served (including trafficking, pregnancy/parenting, child welfare and juvenile justice involvement) with strong privacy protections to prevent disclosure of identities.
- 11Interagency coordination and training
- 12- Strengthens coordination with HUD, Education, Labor, and Justice, alongside the Health and Human Services framework. Incorporates trauma-informed training and best practices for serving vulnerable populations, including trafficking victims, with attention to independent student status and higher education access.
- 13Nondiscrimination and administration
- 14- Adds a nationwide nondiscrimination provision across the program with limited exceptions for sex-segregated programming when necessary to operate essential services. Establishes a waiver process to allow temporary relief from certain requirements in emergencies, with safeguards and reporting to Congress.
- 15- Increases emphasis on data sharing across programs (without compromising youth privacy) to improve coordination and resource use.
- 16Age range and prioritization changes
- 17- Prioritization for services to homeless youth under 22, with the possibility to serve youth up to 26 in certain parts of the program. This expands eligibility and service reach beyond the prior 21-year cap in some components.