In 2003, Larkin Street Youth Services created the Larkin Extended Aftercare for Supported Emancipation (LEASE) Program for former foster youth who emancipate from the system after their eighteenth birthdays and who have unstable housing situations. The LEASE Program places at-risk youth ages 18-24 in their own apartments and provides support in the form of counseling, employment training, referrals, and case management. These programs help emancipated youth develop the skills and resources to retain stable housing in the long-term.

To participate in the LEASE program, recently emancipated youth must be screened by San Francisco’s Independent Living Skills Program (ILSP). After placement in their own home, program participants work closely with Larkin Street counselors to learn how to retain employment, manage money and to care for themselves and their home. Participants in the LEASE program pay rent, at an affordable rate, for their apartments. Counselors also help the program participants develop life goals and a plan to achieve the goals.

To place former foster youth in their own homes within the community and provide complementary services.

In 2009, the LEASE program provided over 200 individual counseling sessions to youth every week. Eighty-percent of program participants retained employment and 86% of those who exited the program successfully transitioned to independent and stable living situations.