Causes of homelessness among youth fall into three categories:
- Family Problem
- Many homeless youths leave home after a physical and sexual abuse, strained relationships, addiction of a family member, or parental neglect. Disruptive family situations are the main reason that young kids attempt leaving from home: in one study, more than half of the teenagers stated that their parents either told them to leave or knew they were leaving. In another research, 46% of runaway and homeless youth had been abused and 17% were forced into unwanted sexual activity by their families or a family member.
- Economic Problems
- Some young people may become homeless as their families face financial problems resulting from a shortage of affordable housing, limited job opportunities, low employment, no medical care or inadequate health benefits. These teenagers are homeless with their families, but are then separated from them by shelter, temporary housing, or child care policies.
- Residential Instability
- Residential instability also contributes to youth homelessness. A history of foster care correlates with early homelessness and a longer period of being homeless. Many young adults living in residential or institutional placements are vulnerable upon their discharge — they become too old for foster care but are discharged without assistance for housing or employment. One national survey found that more than one in five young people who arrived at shelters come straight from foster care and that in the previous year more than one in four had been in foster care.
CONSEQUENCES
Homeless youth on the streets face many challenges. Few homeless youths are housed in emergency shelters as a result of a lack of shelter beds for youth, shelter admission policies, and a preference for greater autonomy. Due to their age, homeless youth have few legal means to earn enough money to meet their basic needs. Many homeless teenagers feel that their only hope of surviving on the streets is to trade sex for food, clothes, and shelter. Homeless youth, in turn, run a greater risk of contracting AIDS or HIV-related diseases. Anonymously performed HIV prevalence studies in four cities found a median HIV-positive rate of 2.3 percent for homeless people under the age of 25.
Homeless adolescents also suffer from extreme anxiety and depression, poor nutrition and health, and weak self-esteem. In one study, the rates of major depression, conduct disorder, and post-trauma syndrome among runaway youth were found to be 3 times as high as among youth who did not run away.
In addition, homeless youth face school attendance difficulties due to requirements of legal guardianship, residency requirements, improper records, and lack of transportation. As a result, homeless youth face severe challenges in getting an education and emotionally and financially support themselves.
RESOURCES
Homeless youth benefit from services that first meet basic needs and then help them cope with other aspects of their lives. To help homeless youth regain stability, programs that minimize institutional demands and offer a range of services have been successful. There is also a need for educational outreach programs, assistance in locating job training and employment, transitional living programs, and health care designed specifically for and targeted at homeless youth. In the long term, homeless youth would benefit from many of the same measures that are needed in the adult population to fight poverty and homelessness, including providing affordable housing and employment that pays a living wage.