The Housing Opportunities and Services Together (HOST) Demonstration is testing the feasibility and effectiveness of two generation intensive service models in distressed public and mixed-income housing communities. This brief draws on findings from the 2012 survey of parents and youth living in the first two HOST sites - Chicago's Altgeld Gardens and Portland's New Columbia and Humboldt Gardens - to illustrate how HOST youth were faring at the start of the HOST intervention. Our survey results demonstrate HOST youth are at serious risk of experiencing school failure, they engage in risky sexual activity, and suffer from poor mental health.