Homeless Youth Research Paper

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

“Today … there is a growing crisis of women’s homelessness across Canada. The Canadian government has failed to explore the causes of women’s homelessness” (Rahder, 2006, p.38). This growing issue is caused by societies carelessness on the homelessness issue, and the lack of support to change it. Even the Canadian government does not see it as an urgent issue to address because, as stated above, they have even failed to

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,

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.

Today in Canada, a rise in youth homelessness is being observed across the country. Despite common assumptions, the issue of street youth is not isolated to Toronto or Montreal, but has become pervasive across the country. Although accurate statistics are impossible to come by, the disturbing reality is that both urban centers and rural communities nationwide, are struggling to provide their youth with adequate, affordable housing. Issues surrounding the supply and affordability of housing, combined with personal circumstances characterized by instability, are distancing youth’s access to housing. These causes and their overall consequences, must be faced before lasting solutions can be shaped by society. Housing Canada’s street youth will

Unemployment and lack of education plays a major role in these individual homeless people’s lives. With unemployment and high school dropout rates rising, homelessness cannot be prevented. Kids are taught from a young age to stay in school because the ones that dropout around high school is more than likely to become homeless. High school dropouts are likely to become homeless because they are likely to get kicked out of their dysfunctional home, or possibly run away from home feeling as if they are not good enough for the family. Dropouts will find it difficult to preserve a job, most will turn to drugs, becoming an addict, only hoping that it will make things better, really just increasing the rate of poverty and homelessness.

Youth who live on the streets are there for two main reasons either they chose to leave the home because of the living situation or they will leave home because they are kicked out or drugs and alcohol have led them onto the streets. 20% of the homeless population is youth and it is increasing every year because of the changes that our generation is going through and being affected by. The rates of suicide in homeless youth are 10.3 times larger then an average Canadian youth. (McKay, E. (2009). Independent Living Accounts: Leaving Homelessness in the Past.).

A homeless person is an individual without a permanent, stable housing situation who either spends his or her nights on the streets or in temporary facilities, such as shelters and abandoned buildings. Throughout history, society has been “holding the poor, rape or incest victims, minorities, or the handicapped responsible for their misfortunes” (Zur). Society has been blaming the homeless for being in the position they are in. However, upon closer inspection, it must be noted that “children under the age of 18 accounts for 39% of the homeless population…battered women who live in poverty are often forced to choose between abusive relationships and homelessness…[and] 40% of homeless men have served in the armed forces” (Who Is Homeless?). It is clear that those who are homeless are not

Youth homelessness can be define as young individuals, ranging from age 12 to around 25, who are without any support from their families, and are either living on the streets or at a shelter. There are often “referred to as “unaccompanied” youth.” (National Coalition for Homelessness (NCH), 2007). Unaccompanied youths can be categorized as runaway-homeless youths, throwaways, and independent youths. Runaway- homeless youths are youths that leave home without any parental permission. Youths that leave their homes because parents encourage them to leave are categorize as throwaways. The final classified as independent youths who leave home because of family conflicts or other issues. (Aratani, 2009).

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

Youth homelessness in Australia has become a massive issue. Every over 105,00 people are homeless, which is shocking to me as I thought it would be becoming less as there should be more help out there. (Homelessness Australia, 2012 ). In 2001, there were a total of 9% homeless. According to the 2011 census, 42% of

Homelessness is an issue that has been affecting almost every part of the world in one way or the other for as long as humanity can remember. There has always been a group of people that are considered to be lesser than the average that struggle every day to obtain the basic human needs such as food, shelter, clothing etc. The book “Theories of Relativity” by Barbara Haworth-Attard is an excellent depiction of how numerous amounts of young teens continue to struggle to get by on the street every day and gives a great point of view from their side. Barbara Haworth-Attard’s main focus in this book was to destroy the stigmas that are attached to the homeless youth by giving the general population a chance to understand the story from their side,

Through my past experience with this problem, I was interested to learn more information about the issues surrounding homelessness. Recently, I volunteered at the Vinnies Fitzroy Soup Van and was completely shocked seeing how people can live in situations where food may not be an option that week. Being able to voluntarily help a person suffering was such an amazing and heart-warming feeling. After many visits, I was fortunate enough to hear a story from a young woman named Louise. She had discussed that she ran away from her home after her father had repeatedly assaulted her, which concluded to her being homeless. To hear this personal story it made me realise the many upsetting factors that contribute to people being forced to become homeless.

When considerable people think about what kind of individuals are homeless, they often conceive of a shabbily dressed, elder male sitting in the front of a random doorway, with a wine bottle in a brown paper bag. However, homelessness for the past years has begun to be more visible. Homeless children are portrayed in welfare and academic literature as a category of "children at risk." Whatever transpires in early childhood can affect a child 's lifestyle. In young children, the results are harsh. Stress can result from major trauma, which can weaken the developing brain and lead to lifelong problems. Homelessness is becoming exceeding worldwide affecting countries with no regard to economical superiority. Children befall on the affected by: substance abuse at home, mental health, lack of literacy skills and schooling. Homeless children are not only affecting themselves as individuals however, also affecting society as a whole. Children are deprived of basic necessities of life, education, and health. Children end up on the streets for numerous reasons, which are rooted within the family’s instabilities and poverty. Living life on the streets has proven to be treacherous for children that don 't have place they can “home”. Furthermore, homelessness inhibits physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and behavior development of the children. Several ways to decrease the number of homeless children would be supporting programs that are dedicated to ameliorate children. These