Nonprofit Vancouver opens waiting list for youth leaving foster care to rent ADU

A Vancouver housing nonprofit has opened a waiting list for 18- to 24-year-olds leaving foster care to rent accessory housing beginning in spring 2025.

The ADU Foundation is building a cluster of seven tiny homes (and a temporary ADU that houses two people at risk of homelessness and fresh out of foster care) called Sapling Heights in downtown Vancouver. It is the first major project of the ADU Foundation since then Sativa McGee founded it last year.

Many people leaving the foster care system lack the rental history, credit scores and co-signers that landlords typically require, McGee said. Sapling Heights will not impose those requirements, she said.

“We’re trying to give them that history so they can then transition to normal housing,” McGee said.

Sapling Heights will help residents continue their education and access jobs and internships, she said.

The one- and two-bedroom homes will be for those making less than 60 percent of the area median income (that’s less than $49,560 a year for a single person). A one-bedroom unit will rent for $1,106 and a two-bedroom unit for $1,327, which includes water, garbage and sewer fees. Rent for the ADUs would remain affordable for 20 years, as required by the ADU Foundation.

“They’re not giving them free housing,” said Cat Montgomery of the ADU Foundation. “They pay for it. They’re dealing with landlords and roommates and the same struggles I’ve been dealing with, but I’ve had more support than them.”

Residents can use Foster Youth to Independence vouchers, which provide housing assistance to people ages 18 to 24 who have left foster care (or will leave foster care within 90 days) and are homeless or at risk of homelessness .

ADUs are specifically for people exiting foster care because that population disproportionately experiences homelessness at a young age, Montgomery said.

“Foster kids, once they get into that post-foster care, that’s where the wheels start to fall off,” she said. “And we want to make them run.”

A study commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services found that about 1 in 4 foster care leavers experienced homelessness in the first year.

Clark County also has one a disproportionate number of children disappear from Washington’s child welfare system — 5.3 percent versus the state average of 3.7 percent in 2022, according to data provided by the Department of Children, Youth and Families.

“We want to stop this and get them on another path as soon as possible,” McGee said.

McGee anticipates high demand for these ADUs, she said. People joining the waiting list will need the Washington Department of Children, Youth and Families to confirm they have previously been in foster care to be accepted, McGee said.

The ADU Foundation needs volunteers, Montgomery said, and owners who want to have ADUs on their properties. Many homeowners have already expressed interest, she said, with about 75 people signed up for ADUs.

“We are so excited to install them,” Montgomery said.