A new program bets cash payments can keep young adults in Baltimore housed

Amir Sydnor was facing a crisis. The 23-year-old East Baltimore native was out of a job and four months behind on rent. Pressure from his landlord was intensifying.

Then a volunteer from local nonprofit Thread told him how to possibly avoid eviction. The organization had a new program through its partnership with Point Source Youth that provides one-time direct cash payments to people in situations like Sydnor’s.

With the help of volunteers, Sydnor filled out an application in early April. By mid-May, he received over $7,500 to cover back rent, bills and some groceries.

“Nine times out of ten, I would have been homeless,” Sydnor said. “I feel like somebody put their arms around me and just lifted me up out of the situation.”

Sydnor is one of the first 50 Baltimore recipients of a direct cash payment from Point Source Youth. The New York-based nonprofit partners with local groups nationwide to create housing action plans and provide payments to 18- to 24-year-olds so they don’t fall into homelessness. For many, the money helps them keep their current housing. For others, like 25-year-old Davonta Ayers, the program helps them get a new place.

The organization has worked in Baltimore since 2017, including partnering with the St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center on a program in which families host young people at risk of homelessness. They decided to focus on cash payments because of positive early results and scalability across the country. Early recipients of the payments, which Point Source Youth has only been giving out for a few months, say it has given them a lifeline to stable housing.

More than 35,000 people age 25 and younger in the United States experience homelessness in a single night, according to an annual report from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Commission. In Maryland, homelessness is most pronounced in Baltimore.

Young people also face a unique array of challenges when it comes to housing, such as cyclical poverty, addiction and involvement in foster care, according to a March study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Point Source Youth.

“Once somebody is unstably housed, it’s really hard to make positive choices,” said Larry Cohen, Point Source Youth’s director and co-founder.

Cohen believes the organization’s cash payment program can save governments money in the long run. Once a young person falls into homelessness, they are more likely to need public services like shelters and hospitals and become involved in the criminal justice system, he said.

“It may seem a little wild giving young people $3,000 to not experience homelessness, but if you don’t and they end up entering a shelter later on, you’re going to end up spending $30,000,” Cohen said.

Casey Dawkins, a University of Maryland professor of urban studies and planning, compared the direct cash transfers to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Housing Choice Voucher program. The vouchers, which can be used toward rent payments, are the federal government’s primary form of housing assistance for low-income families.

“In general, those kind of initiatives can be effective, if paired with an overall housing strategy that addresses the supply side,” Dawkins said.

Cash payments alone won’t solve issues around homelessness if there aren’t enough affordable homes, Dawkins said.

Point Source Youth works with two other partners in the Baltimore region: the YMCA of Central Maryland and Howard County’s Department of Housing and Community Development.

‘It’s peace, honestly’

A pilot of cash payments that ran from 2024 to 2025 in seven other states offers a glimpse into how it could work in Baltimore. It enrolled more than 300 participants and distributed an average payment of about $3,700 per person. More than 90% of recipients remained out of the homelessness system six months after payment, according to the Hopkins study.

Arianna James, a 24-year-old recent college graduate, was living in Charlotte, North Carolina, when she fell into a financial crisis.

After shuttering an online business, James fell behind on rent, she said. She didn’t start a new job for another month and didn’t have enough money in the meantime to pay bills.

Looking for help, James connected with The Relatives, a local nonprofit working with Point Source Youth. Shortly after applying, James received around $3,300, enough to cover two months’ rent with a couple hundred left for groceries and essentials from Costco.

“It really helped lift the burden and really just get me started in this new season I’m in,” James said.

Breanna Sorrell, The Relatives’ housing navigator, said the partnership with Point Source Youth helped the organization expand its mission of helping Charlotte’s homeless youths. In 2026, they’ve coordinated 15 payments through the program. In a few instances, young people were already facing eviction and needed more rapid support than Point Source Youth could provide, Sorrell said.

Recipients of the money can choose how to use it, which Cohen said is key to the program’s effectiveness.

The direct cost of housing, like rent and utilities, accounts for 52% of a Point Source Youth recipient’s budget on average, according to the Hopkins study. Vehicle and transportation costs and groceries and other essentials were other significant expenses.

The money helped Davonta Ayers get his own place for the first time. He faced challenges after the death of his father and two brothers and had trouble keeping jobs after graduating from high school in East Baltimore.

“I just kept saying, ‘I can’t keep a job. Is it me? Is it how I look? Is it how I talk?’” said Ayers, who’s soft-spoken with a distinctly Baltimore accent.

Eventually, Thread helped him enroll in Maryland Service Year, in which he is paid for community service. The organization also connected him with Point Source Youth, which allowed him to move out of his godmother’s house. He received money to cover the deposit, first month’s rent and some furniture for his new apartment.

“It’s peace, honestly,” Ayers said about living in his own and prioritizing his mental health.

Having a place to stay isn’t a panacea for all the challenges Baltimore’s young adults face, but it helps. Sydnor hopes others will be encouraged by Point Source Youth’s program.

“It gives people a light to look forward to, it gives people a reason to keep their head up,” he said.

This story is published as part of the Baltimore News Collaborative, a project exploring the challenges and successes experienced by young people in Baltimore. The collaborative is supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. News members of the collaborative retain full editorial control.