8 Things You Need to Understand About Youth Experiencing Homelessness

It’s hard for experts to come up with accurate estimates for the number of young people experiencing homelessness, but we do know that it’s an unfortunately common experience. According to Voices of Youth Count, 1 in 10 young adults and 1 in 30 teenagers face some form of homelessness in a year.

We spoke with two professionals who work with youth experiencing homelessness: Pilar Barreyro, Associate Director, Northeast & Strategic Communications at Point Source Youth, and Kathy Marsala, Hamilton Families Shelter Program Director. With their expert advice, here are a few things you should know about youth experiencing homelessness in your community and across the country.

1. Homelessness doesn’t always mean living on the streets.

In their definition of homelessness, the US Department of Education includes folks living in motels, hotels, campgrounds, transitional shelters, and shared homes because of a loss of their own housing. The key here is that these folks have lost their permanent place of residence -- not necessarily that they have literally no shelter. In New York City, for example, 73,000 homeless students live “doubled up” with multiple families in one household, and sometimes entire families share a single room.

2. Youth experiencing homelessness are often pushed out of their homes for reasons out of their control.

No, the young people who experience homelessness didn’t all just decide to up and leave their homes. Most of the time, they’re forced out by economic hardship, family problems, or other factors. “Nationally, I would also identify that youth leave their homes at an early age because of sexual abuse, physical abuse, and parental neglect,” said Marsala in an email.

Sometimes these challenges are made worse when young people hold certain identities (see #3 below). “Family rejection can oftentimes be a key driver,” Barreyro wrote via email. “Many young people who live in households where they're discriminated against, victimized, or abused as a result of their gender identity, gender expression and/or sexual orientation, are more vulnerable to experience housing instability.”

3. Homelessness impacts folks differently depending on things like identity and environment.

Statistically, there are a lot of factors that increase a person’s chance of experiencing homelessness. The Congressional Research Service identified risk factors for youth homelessness including foster care placement, history of mental illness, and juvenile justice involvement, among many others.

“Young people who identify as LGBTQ+, as well as young people of color, face higher risks of homelessness,” said Barreyro. “Poverty is also a factor, especially for youth of color, who might live in households whose families experience larger wage gaps compared to their white counterparts or who have greater difficulty accessing jobs that pay living wages.”

4. Youth homelessness has likely impacted your community (even if you don’t realize it).

Contrary to popular belief, youth experience homelessness not only in urban areas, but in rural and suburban ones, as well -- sometimes they just fly under the radar. “3.5 million young people experience homelessness each year, which means there are countless young people experiencing housing instability who are our classmates, our co-workers, our friends, and neighbors,” said Barreyro.

You can’t really tell just by looking at a person whether they’re experiencing homelessness or not, and stigma around homelessness can keep folks from speaking up about it. So even if you don’t think you know anyone whose life has been touched by homelessness, chances are you actually have.

5. Homelessness is an experience that often has larger, systemic forces behind it.

Often, the cause of homelessness is less about problems with individuals and their behavior, and more about the systems in place within our society that operate outside of our control.

“Transphobia, homophobia, racism, sexism, xenophobia and more forms of discrimination create huge barriers for folks to access fair and stable housing, to find neighborhoods where they feel safe, to earn gainful wages, and to navigate their communities without the risk of persecution, discrimination, police brutality and more,” said Barreyro.

This kind of systemic inequality doesn’t just cause folks to experience homelessness -- it can even keep them from escaping its cycle.

6. Youth experiencing homelessness are more vulnerable than adults experiencing homelessness.

There are some things that young people are at a greater risk for when they’re homeless because of their age, like sex and human trafficking. Not only that, they’re also typically less connected with services that can help them.

“Many adults that are homeless have a plan and have obtained services through social and human departments,” Marsala said. “This is not the case for youth.” Because navigating social services isn’t exactly something we’re taught in high school, young people may struggle more with finding and applying for these programs.

7. Young people experiencing homelessness may not want to talk about it.

Part of the reason why youth homelessness usually goes so unnoticed is because the young people who experience it may not want others to know specifics about their situation. Being a teenager is hard enough, and sometimes it feels safer not to stick out (for any reason). The stigma around homelessness makes it an especially difficult topic to broach, and that can be compounded by personal trauma around it.

“Youth that are homeless [often] have experienced some type of trauma, and they are not always so open to sharing because of trust. The building of that trust factor is important and sensitive,” Marsala said. “Once you find that connection, the true work begins, in the healing and in the understanding of their trauma to be able to provide the support that they need.”

8. You can make a difference in the lives of young people experiencing homelessness. We all can.

Here’s a quick list of things you can do to help young people experiencing homelessness:

• Donate items to local shelters (like your gently-used jeans through DoSomething’s Teens for Jeans campaign, powered by Aéropostale).
• Donate your time by volunteering at a shelter or community service provider.
• Vote for representatives who address homelessness in your community.
• Advocate for more affordable housing in your community.

“At minimum, challenge your assumptions and unpack your stigmas around homelessness, poverty and more,” Barreyro said. “Emancipate yourself from misinformation by getting informed, asking questions and using that knowledge to join the various fights for liberation.”

Youth homelessness is too prevalent for us to act like it doesn’t affect us or our communities. By actively working to destigmatize homelessness, we can let our peers know that they’re seen and welcomed, and we can better support them in their experiences. To learn more, you can watch and share youth perspectives from across the country at Point Source Youth’s Media & Visual Storytelling Library.