Today in the United States, government & non profit organizations such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have been trying to count the number of homeless youth annually. There are many different causes/definitions for homeless and that makes it difficult to receive accurate data based on surveys of even censuses. The National Alliance To End Homelessness considers an individual homeless if he or she lives in an emergency shelter, or a place not meant for human living, such as a car, abandoned buildings, or on the street. One reason a teen could be considered “homeless” is because they have aged out of foster care and end up having no where to go. In 2009, 30,000 teenagers aged out of foster care. They are at high risk …show more content…
The number of young people who experience homelessness each year is largely unknown because of the fact that its harder to track teens movements. Adults tend to stay in one area and even claim that they are homeless while teens will deny any claim and try to stay low radar. Common methods often used for counting homeless adults don’t accurately count youth, because youth stay in groups or try to hide in plain sight by blending in with peers who aren’t homeless. (Looking For Homeless Youth. 2013) To try and improve the accuracy of their numbers of homeless youth in the Unites States, non profit organizations are trying to help the government on the issue by trying to promote homeless youth awareness and get teens to see that its not a bad idea to get help and take advantage of the countless number of aid the government is willing to give them. The government estimates that the number youth varies widely, they don’t have specific number in mind. Part of the difficulty is that different counts use different age ranges, definitions of homelessness, and reasons for homelessness. (Looking For Homeless Youth. 2013) These different categories used is what is making it harder to accurately count homeless youth and is slowing down the process of the government trying to end homelessness in …show more content…
The organization started in 1987, when homelessness started to become a big problem in America. To be successful in trying to prevent and end homelessness in communities across the country, the NAEH works with the Congress, and our local, state, and other national organizations to improve federal policies that will prevent and end homelessness. It is estimated that during a year approximately 550,000 single youth and young adults up to age 24 have experienced being homelessness longer than one week. 380,000 of those youth are under the age of 18. These numbers are a rough estimate and are not entirely accurate, but they provide communities and organizations an idea of how many youth need help in their
Although The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act is a program that guarantees education for the homeless youth population, many homeless do not receive the proper services they need because they are not aware of available resources (Heinze & Jozefowicz-Simbeni, 2009). Many homeless youths do not have a safe place to stay during the night or do not have any family or friends to rely on for support. In addition, approximately 7% of youth members in the United States are left without a home because of high dependence on an addictive substance or because they have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder (Heinze & Jozefowicz-Simbeni, 2009). Services that could provide shelter for the youth are often underused. Research in homeless youth
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. This paper will be working towards giving the reader a better understanding 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”. According to Karabanow, made up of a number of subcultures including hardcore street-entrenched young people, squatters, group home kids, child welfare kids, soft-core twinkles, runaways, throwaways, refugees and immigrants is the generic term ‘street youth’.
If you wanted to examine young people's experiences of homelessness, would you use qualitative methods, or quantitative methods, or a mixed methods approach, and why?
I have heard stories from my friends that are horrible, especially considering they were all under 18 during these events within their lives. Therefore, I believe the homeless youth in our community need more attention due to their age and lack of confidence. For example, my boyfriend Alex was homeless when we started dating. All of his siblings were taken away separately from child services due to abuse, addiction and neglect within his family. He lived in a shelter where teens were using drugs, stealing and some were even into prostitution. I do understand that not all shelters are this way, but in his experience, he has lived in three different ones and all of them had some of these factors within them. I used to believe there were many options for the homeless, especially teenagers, but from my own second-hand experiences there are really not that many alternatives. “Sometimes it is safer to sleep on the street than some homeless shelters we came across”, suggests Alex Black, a former homeless youth. These shelters can be horrifying to the point that many teens, including Alex, run away. Society looks down on the homeless, creating a barrier surrounding our social structure, placing them at the bottom. Many people in our community believe it is not their place to help, some just are selfish or look the other way and keep on walking.“Whoever closes
Homelessness in the United States has been an important subject that the government needs to turn its attention to. There has been announced in the news that the number of the homeless people in many major cities in the United States has been increasing enormously. According to United States Interagency Council on Homelessness reported that there was an estimation of 83,170 individuals have experienced chronic homelessness on the streets of the United States’ streets and shelters on only a single night of January 2015, which is a small decrease of only 1% from the previous year (People Experiencing Chronic Homelessness, n.d.). The United States must consider this subject that most of the people underestimate it and not pay attention
Although most people know what homelessness is and it occurs in most societies, it is important to define because the forces of displacement vary greatly, along with the arrangement and meaning of the resulting transient state. The Stewart B McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 defined a homeless person as “an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence or a person who resides in a shelter, welfare hotel, transitional program or place not ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation, such as streets, cars, movie theaters, abandoned buildings, etc.” Resent surveys conducted in the U.S. have confirmed that the homeless population in America is extremely diverse and includes representatives from all segments of society, including: the old and young, men and women, single people and families, city dwellers and rural residents, whites and people of color, employed and unemployed, able workers and people with serious health problems. The diversity among people that are homeless reflects how difficult it is to generalize the causes of homelessness and the needs of homeless people. Robert Rosenheck M.D., the author of Special Populations of Homeless Americans, explains the importance of studying homelessness based on subgroups, “each subgroup [of homeless people] has unique service needs and identifying these needs is critical for program planning and design.” Despite these diversities, homelessness is a devastating situation for all that experience it. Not only have homeless people lost their dwelling, but they have also lost their safety, privacy, control, and domestic comfort.
Homeless Youth: Characteristics, Contributing Factors, and Service Options. Journal Of Human Behavior In The Social Environment, 20(2), 193-217. doi:10.1080/10911350903269831
The youth homelessness population is increasing because of the many challenges that these children or teens face in everyday life; It also continues getting larger every year because of the many youth who are getting into dangerous situations that force them to be homeless or thru their own choosing. One third of the homeless population is between the ages of 16-24, which is incredibly young and it is the prime years for an adolescent or young adu...
Homelessness….. Many assume those who are homeless took part in some type of drug or alcohol abuse which lead them to become homeless. It is an ongoing situation that has not been fully resolved in order to lower the risk of individuals of the youth population becoming homeless. The age group for homeless individuals who qualify as youth is nineteen years of age and under. In the United States, dysfunctional families are occurring more frequent, which is a vital reason adolescents are running away from their homes. This alone puts many of our youth at risk of becoming homeless. When adolescents leave their homes, it decreases their chances of having a smooth transition into adulthood. Some adolescents may leave their home because
Based off the attention from modern media, youth homelessness has been on an unfortunate upslope in the United States within the past decade. Various factors tie into why this issue is becoming more prominent such as low income households being unable to afford children, LGBT youth rejection, and domestic abuse leading to children leaving home. Now, vagrancy has a severely negative impact on the development of young people as it inhibits them from developing academically, socially, and mentally and can also expose them to diseases and potentially various types of abuse, such as sexual and substance abuse. This is an issue that should be addressed, for the rising generations are America’s future, and so investing in the overall well-being of the
This great nation of awesome power and abundant resources is losing the battle against homelessness. The casualties can be seen on the street corners of every city in American holding an ?I will work for food? sign. Homeless shelters and rescue missions are at full capacity. There is no room at the inn for the nation?s indigent. Anyone who has studied this issue understands that homelessness is a complex problem. Communities continue to struggle with this socio-economic problem while attempting to understand its causes and implement solutions. The public and private sectors of this country are making a difference in the lives of the homeless by addressing the issues of housing, poverty and education.
Homeless people come from many different backgrounds. Gender is the first demographic to consider. According to many different studies, most of single homeless adults are men who “make up slightly more than 51 percent of the total homeless population, while single women comprised about 17 percent” (McNamara 1027). However, in homeless families, single female parents make up approximately 90% (Markos and Lima). Second demographic to consider is age. Everyone including children can become homeless because of different cases. From the National Coalition for the Homeless, “children under the age of 18 accounted for 39% of the homeless population, 25% of homeless were ages 25 to 34; the same study found percentages of homeless persons aged 55 to 64 at 6%” (qtd. National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, 2004). By a study in 2002 from t...
Youth become homeless for a number of reasons, including: family violence and neglect, rejection due to sexual orientation or gender identity, the overwhelmed child welfare system and extreme poverty. These youth almost always have experienced unimaginable abuse and trauma, in their homes, their communities, and on the street. It is the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA)-funded services and programs that help to rectify the deep injustices that homeless youth experience on a daily basis.
With nearly 3.18 million people in the United States, there are 610.042 individuals who are homeless which calculates to about nearly one in five individuals (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 and HUD/US, 2013). At any time situations can change that can render an individual’s homeless. There are no qualities that exempt individuals from the chances of becoming homeless. However, there are certain predispositions and characteristics that can predict the likelihood of becoming homeless. Homelessness can be contributed to a number of situations such as occupational stress, financial stress, mental health issues, substance use, gender, age, race, disabilities, incarceration, chronic illness, and family stress.
O., & Burke, P. J. (2009). Lost in the shuffle: culture of homeless adolescents. Pediatric Nursing, 35(3), 154-161.