An estimated 22% of foster children experience homelessness within one year of leaving the foster care system. The lack of stable housing poses numerous obstacles for these young individuals, including difficulties in finding employment, accessing healthcare and obtaining an education. However, there is hope on the horizon for four young women.
Thanks to the effective coordination of resources by New Castle County’s Vacant Spaces to Livable Places program at the county, state, and federal levels, these women will soon have a secure and safe home.
Unveiled in a ceremony attended by state and county representatives, a custom-built four-bedroom, two-bath house in Minquadale will be called home by young women who’ve aged out of foster care. The residence will be owned and managed by Duffy’s Hope, a nonprofit that has provided after-school and summer youth programs to Wilmington-area children and their families for 25 years.
However, not long ago, the property was hardly desirable. The transformation of this home begins with blight and neglect in the New Castle County community of Minquadale.
Minquadale is a sliver of a neighborhood sandwiched between Route 13 outside of Wilmington and I-295 as it branches to New Jersey. Residents actively keep up with issues in the neighborhood, and the abandoned property on Delmar Street was a cause for alarm. The lot full of high grass and weeds was a breeding ground for parasites and varmin, and the structure’s roof had caved in. Minquadale Civic Association representatives brought neighbors’ concerns to the attention of county officials.
During the ceremony, County Executive Matt Meyer said after listening to civic association leaders, he learned that the property was “something the neighborhood was embarrassed about.” Meyer said that the county responded to residents’ concerns through code enforcement. However, despite repeated citations for violating county codes and laws, the property owner took no action.
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Eventually, the county was able to take control of the property and put it up for auction at a sheriff’s sale. But with its extensive structural damage, no one bid on it. Due to its continuing cost to taxpayers, it was placed in New Castle County’s Vacant Spaces to Livable Places program.
County program addresses blight, financial drain
Prior to the pandemic, New Castle County had a growing problem with vacant and neglected properties like the one in Minquadale. These types of properties were found to attract nuisance and criminal activity, drain public resources and depress property values. In addition, they imposed a financial burden on the public in terms of reduced funding for schools, fire, police, and paramedic services and increased code enforcement costs.
To address these concerns, New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer initiated the Vacant Spaces to Livable Places program to develop and rehabilitate vacant lots and blighted properties.
County officials said since the program was launched in 2017, more than 700 homes and vacant lots have been transformed into affordable housing. As a result, the program reduced the number of vacant properties in the county by 53%, while generating $3.4 million in back taxes, fees, and fines and returning more than $1.7 million to New Castle County school districts.
Touting its success the county noted the Vacant Spaces to Livable Places program was recognized with a national award at the 2023 National Association of Counties for its effectiveness in redeveloping property for productive use.
A transitional home for young women in need of support
According to Delaware’s Division of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families, at any given time, there are more than 500 children in Delaware who are in need of foster families. Ideally, these children will be reunited with their parents or extended family once the circumstances that led to the foster placement have been resolved. When this goal is not achieved, children remain in the foster care system until age 18.
At age 18, former foster children must begin to build their adult lives. Many do not have families who can provide the necessary support most young adults need to explore options.
Compared to the general population, young people who are emancipated from the foster care system are at a higher risk of experiencing homelessness, not completing their education, being arrested, and struggling with emotional and mental health issues, including a reported prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder similar to that of many U.S. war veterans. Additionally, 7 out of 10 young women experience pregnancy before age 21, while 82% of males report having been arrested by age 21.
Approximately 100 youths age out of Delaware’s foster care system every year.
The nonprofit Duffy’s Hope aims to give four young women a chance to beat the odds. “We’re going to bring them in, and they might be hopeless, but we’re going to make them hopeful,” said Allen “Duffy” Samuels, founder and executive director of Duffy’s Hope.
The county knocked down the old dilapidated structure on the lot, leaving space for the new 1,512-square-foot modular unit featuring four bedrooms, two full baths and a back deck overlooking a spacious yard. The organization still has to complete the settlement process before they will officially be the legal owners of the property. However, the expectation is that the former foster youth will move in by the end of September, Samuels said.
The program at the Minquadale residence will offer comprehensive support services including educational opportunities, job training, career counseling and mental health therapy to assist the recently emancipated women as they navigate their transition into adulthood. Case managers and therapists will have an office in the home to work out of when visiting, but they will not live at the location.
“We want these kids living independently,” Samuels explained.
Most federal programs that offer transitional care typically end when the individual ages to 21 years old. However, certain states, such as Delaware, have chosen to extend transitional services until age 23. Samuels said the young women ages 18 to 21 who will live at the Duffy’s Hope home can stay at the home until age 24.
In addition to Duffy’s Hope, there are six other organizations throughout Delaware providing independent living services to youth in foster care.
Contact reporter Anitra Johnson at ajohnson@delawareonline.com. Join her on the Facebook group Delaware Voices Uplifted. Support her work and become a subscriber.
