Homeless Young People On The Street

Our text illustrates that there are various populations within the homeless community. These people are homeless for different reasons, whether its voluntary or involuntarily. Runaways and Victims of

In the United States the homeless population continues to grow rapidly. Homelessness has been a public health issue for many decades. Often times these individuals feel as though society has turned a blind eye to them. This at risk population is seen by society as lazy or chose to live a life on the streets, but if one would examine this population closely would see that there is more to this at risk population than what society has labeled them as. The forces, which affect homelessness, are multifaceted. Social forces such as family breakdown, addictions, and mental illnesses are in combined with structural forces such as lack of low-cost housing, insufficient health services, and poor economic conditions. Many would

Being homeless presents many challenges for youth that they normally live day to day, unable to develop plans for forming a productive life structure. Since many homeless youth don’t have money so they start begging or selling drugs or start prostituting to earn money to cover their basic needs. The basic problem of homelessness is the human need for personal shelter,

Youth Homeless is a significant social issue that impacts a multitude of youth from all over the United States. There is a multitude of factors that can contribute to youth homelessness. Fortunately, the Covenant House in Michigan is committed to servicing homeless youth in Detroit. One of the core values of the agency, is immediacy therefore, the agency offers necessities such as shelter, safety, food and clothing rapidly to those in need. The Covenant House will not turn anyone away if they fall into the age range of 18-24 years old.

Homelessness is a major problem in the United States. An incredibly vulnerable group is the homeless youth due to their young age and lack of education. According to Edidin, Ganim, Hunter, & Karnik (2012) on any particular night in the United States there are ~2 million homeless youth living on the streets, in shelters, or in other temporary accommodation. Youth become homeless for multiple reasons whether it be because they have aged out of foster care, ran from home, were kicked out of their home, or because they have become homeless along with their family members. Within the umbrella categorization of homeless youth there are high at risk subgroups, common misconceptions, and a serious concern of lack of support and medical services.

In youth homelessness these children, adolescents and even young adults are being exposed to many dangerous drugs, alcohol, and people.

Homeless youth are a standout amongst the most underestimated gatherings in our general public. Numerous specialists recognize much more elevated amounts of different issue practices among these adolescent contrasted with their non-homeless associates. The current study analyzed the utility of social capital in foreseeing issue practices among homeless youth.

Homeless teenagers are a vulnerable population that faces many challenges just in terms of daily existence in addition to their overall development in the transitioning to adulthood. Current studies are reported to indicate that the primary cause of homeless among youth is "family dysfunction in the form of parental neglect, physical or sexual abuse, family substance abuse, and family violence." (Runway & Homeless Youth and Relationship Toolkit, 2009, p.1) Homeless youth are generally defined as "an unaccompanied youth ages 12 and older who are without family support and who are living in shelters, on the streets, in cares or vacant buildings and who are 'couch surfing' or living in other unstable circumstances." (Runway & Homeless Youth and Relationship Toolkit, 2009, p.1) Son (2002) writes that it is "...unknown how many homeless youth are out there. Most of them are not in the child welfare, juvenile justice, or mental health systems, making it difficult to accurately gather statistical data." (p.2)

Homelessness, especially among the youth (12-24 years of age), is difficult to capture in data due to the invisibility of this population. The homeless and independent youth are, generally, not part of formal institutions like homeless shelters or mental health systems. As a response to the dire circumstances these youths face on a daily basis, they come to rely on internal informal networks that they trust. Consequently, it is common for young, homeless and independent, individuals to temporarily stay with different friends: constantly moving from one couch to another. This network of trust is invaluable to this population and is a potential key for policy makers to look at unconventional methods to identify and address the most pressing needs.

Even with the daily struggle faced by youth in obtaining shelter and homelessness becoming a reality for a growing number of Canadians, Canada, with its high quality of life is one country that has always had a global long-standing reputation (Health Canada, 2006). The aim of this paper is to give the reader a better understanding and knowledge with regards to homeless youth. It will be focusing on the reasons why they leave home, their lives on the street and steps they are trying to take to be able to leave the streets. An important finding from this research suggests, “the street youth population is diverse, complex, and heterogeneous” (Karabanow, 2008). According to Karabanow, made up of a number of subcultures including hardcore

“...These youths have been shown to engage in similar strategies for meeting basic needs and to experience similar problems; drugs and alcohol abuse, poor physical health, victimization and societal alienation. Homeless youths are identified as those who spend extended periods of time without permanent or stable residences, often with little family contact. Youths who become immersed in 'street' culture comprise a homeless youth population highly susceptible to peer affiliation and acceptance. Emotionally distressed and unsupervised, homeless youths often seek supportive others and may quickly invest in new, but harmful, relationships in an attempt to be accepted and reduce feelings of isolation. Relationships with other street youths quickly become the primary source of social support.” Following are the factors affecting the critical issue of ‘homelessness’ around the globe.

Researcher Didenki and Pankratz identified in the year of 2007, that alcohol abuse is more prevalent in the older generations while drug usage is more common in the young ones on the street. Substance abuse could be a reason behind someone’s homelessness. People spend lots of money to obtain this high that they receive from drugs or alcohol. This could be a problem some lose their jobs. Some already have a hard time paying their bills and this creates more problems. Alcohol and drug addiction ruins family and friend relationships. Research shows that if it is not a cause to their homelessness it is often an affect. When people suffer from hardships they often turn to other things to get that temporary high. It is like an escape from their problems. This unfortunately suffers ties and makes it harder for a person to find jobs. Addictions are very difficult to quit, making it a reason why individuals end up on the street for a long time. (Substance abuse and homelessness. (2009, July

Any logical human should agree that in order for a developing mind to successfully flourish, homelessness can not be a factor within a young adult's life. An understanding commonly found among those with a rewarding lifestyle comply that a stable life for an adolescent is a basis for a favorable career and homelessness should not be associated. Homelessness is a component in a number of teens lives in Arizona, which by default significantly decrease their chances from having said favorable career, thus prohibiting them from having a fortunate life. Abusive relationships, economic hardships, and being involved with the Juvenile System are just a few of the many factors that play into making teenagers believe homelessness is their only option.

One in seven adolescents between the ages of ten and eighteen will run away at some point (“Running Away”). People need to pay more attention to the reasons why teens run away when there is the risk of becoming homeless. According to the National Runaway Safeline (NRS) there are between 1.7 and 2.8 million runaway and homeless youth that live on the street each year. It is important for people to know this because it estimates the number of children and teens that runaway and possibly become homeless each year. Forty six percent of runaway and homeless youth reported being physically abused, thirty eight percent reported being emotionally abused , and seventeen percent reported being forced into unwanted sexual activity by a family or household member (Homeless and Runaway Youth). Physical, emotional and sexual abuse are common reasons why teens run away. Teens that are experiencing abuse, have issues with their parents, may develop a drug addiction and often become teenage runaways.

This vulnerable group self-evaluate their health as not sufficient and expressed a will to learn about what is need to be done to improve it. In general, the homeless people live less and have more health problems including mental health problems than the rest of the society. The risk of premature death is three times higher compared to the rest of the population who are not homeless (Taylor, Kendzor, Reitzel & Businelle, 2016). Modifiable risk factors are these conditions that can be changed with a proper behavior. Taylor, Kendzor, Reitzel and Businelle (2016) maintain that among the homeless people, engaging in risky behavior like smoking, alcohol consumptions, obesity, and as well as decrease in physical activity are common and are the primary reasons for mortality for these people. These are the risk factors can be addressed and modified in order to lead to a different, and more favorable outcome. For instance, a great body of evidence support the claim that more than two thirds of this vulnerable population smokes cigarettes and almost all of them have a problem with the alcohol to the point that alcohol is the most misused stuff according to numerous studies (Taylor et al.,