Homelessness In Homelessness

Youth Homelessness in Germany and Denmark

Juanita Gallegos

Grand View University

[Imagine that you’re walking on the streets of New York City and you see a child curled up next to the curb. Although the temperature outside is well over eighty degrees, the child is bundled up with layer upon layer. You notice that most people pass him by with just one glance, probably feeling disturbed for a moment or two, and then they continue on with their day. However, some people stop and make an effort to pull out the change in their back pocket and throw it in the paper cup next to him. This makes you think; could you survive a night on the street? To most people, this thought seems inconceivable. Being forced to sleep on the street without a roof or stomach full of food doesn’t seem realistic to those of us who are more fortunate. However, what most people don’t know is that this situation is not that improbable] (Kroloff,2012). Homelessness is defined as having no fixed place to sleep at night. This includes people staying in motels until their money runs out, those staying with friends, those staying in shelters, and those sleeping inside or out; whatever

Schrage from the ministry of labor, social family affairs and integration, Denmark has 15,000 homeless individuals, 3,000 of those individuals live on the streets. The Mental Health & Homelessness in Iowa study conducted in 2005 concluded that over 21,000 Iowans were homeless at some point during 2005(Graham, 2010). Denmark’s homeless population is small in comparison to the entire United States. Walking down the streets of many metropolitan areas in the U.S, a person is often faced with an often ignored problem: youth homelessness, according to the National coalition for the homeless 5% to 7% of American youths become homeless in any given year, 75% of homeless or runaway youth have dropped out or will drop out of school and between 20% and 40% of homeless youth identify as LGBT