Homeless Youth Essay

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

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.

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.).

The effects of teen homelessness are many ranging from untreated physical and mental health to drug and alcohol dependence. Many youth also fall victim to the prison system and even death due to criminal behavior as a means of survival. During my research a study was conducted on youth entering and exiting the foster care system. Research has shown that the very systems put into place to ensure child safety and reduce outcomes such as poverty have place more youth at risk “Homelessness and its associated psychosocial effects continue to plague American urban centers. Especially troubling are suggestions that foster care functions as a pipeline to the streets for older adolescents leaving the system. Surveys of service providers and homeless populations suggest that young people exiting foster care have difficulty securing stable housing” (Fowler, Toro, & Miles, 2009, p.1).

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)

Sometimes personal struggles cause people to be homeless while those who try moving away from unstable lifestyles have few options, this may further be complicated if they are discriminated like those who identify with the LGBT groups. Identifying the homeless youths, including the runaways is potentially challenging, but when it is possible to reach them it helps to improve access to affordable housing services. While people may view the economic causes

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.

Homelessness is all around the world, and many people have either dealt with the issue or had first-hand experience with it. Thus causes everyone to think about the possible solutions to such an important social and economic problem. Whether or not anyone wants to support or ignore the issue, it will always be there. However, the youth population is on the rise among the homeless. While the exact number of youth among the homeless is hard to determine, given various information about homelessness available and the age range that is considered youth, a 2012 survey from the Department of Education shows that 52,950 unaccompanied homeless youth were reported through school-based programs (Sparks 31). Homelessness among youth can be

33,000, this is the number of homeless that live on the streets in Canada and 8,000-11,000 of those people are youth in the age range of only 16-24 years of age. This number has increased and grown bigger by the days due to social and economic factors and coming up with a solution becomes more complicated. Many teens become homeless because of hardship in their life or addiction and mental/psychical disabilities, which affects the integrity of that person. This essay will explain the factors of how youth end up on the streets and the harmful effects it can cause and how Canada reacts and helps this problem. The world is discovering how the population of youth on the streets is growing and their trying make many

About 1.7 million youth in America will encounter homelessness each year (Tompsett, Domoff, & Toro, 2013). Homelessness within the youth population in America is a serious problem and there are many associated risks and hazards identified with being homeless as a youth. For this research youth has been established to be any person between the ages of 12 and 18; in the process of maturing through adolescent stages of growth (Oliveira & Burke, 2013, p. 154). Youth whom become homeless are at risk of developing a lifestyle or acculturation to street living. Researchers are exploring the causes of homelessness in the youth population and the consequences of homelessness.

In order for a community to be successful people should not up some individual freedom. 40% of homeless youth in America are LGBT because they have been kicked out of there homes for being LGBT because, their parents or parent doesn't want them because of their sexuality. Homeless LGBT give up the right to learn, eat, sleep comfortably and be loved when they are kicked out.

Children of many ages are affected by these tremendous problems resulting from homelessness that have just become greater as time has passed. Homelessness leaves long lasting scars on these children (Crary 2). “The burden places upon these people can influence every facet of their lives; from contraception to early adulthood” (Hart-Shegos 2). All stages of life are affected by this experience of homelessness and severe problems can be caused in every stage.