Youth homelessness is a major public health concern. Chapin Hall’s Voices of Youth Count study found that every year, more than 4 million young Americans ages 13–25 experienced some form of homelessness. Homelessness is a traumatic experience preceded by adversity. It has numerous consequences, including physical and mental health problems, substance use, interpersonal violence, sexual and labor exploitation, early pregnancy, suicidality, and early death. We are missing opportunities to intervene earlier in the lives of young people to prevent the trauma of homelessness.
Youth homelessness occurs when young people should be committing their energies to work, friendship, and love, rather than making stark choices about housing and food. As a nation, we often view homelessness as an individual problem rather than a systemic one, but risk for homelessness is not equal. Structural inequities and discriminatory policies predispose young people who identify as Black and Latinx, American Indian and Alaskan Native, and LGBTQI+, have experienced past child welfare involvement, the death of a parent, are young parents, don’t have a high school degree, and have contact with criminal legal systems.
Feasible, sustainable solutions to youth homelessness require the participation of young people and a posture that empowers them, alongside reliance on research evidence, consideration of public systems with roles in youth well-being, and a vision of equity. We need to change missed opportunities into new opportunities.
What We Did
We spent 14 months working with a group of young experts with lived experience of homelessness. These experts contributed to the formation of research questions, a systematic review of the evidence on prevention, in-depth interviews and ethnographic study of the pathways of young people through homelessness, and more. We convened four working groups, co-led by young people and Chapin Hall experts, who explored the drivers of youth homelessness and the tipping points (positive and negative) with the potential to avert homelessness or result in it. We then generated more than 100 recommendations for policy, research, and practice.
What We Found
We learned from young people, subject matter experts (such as advocates, lived experts, scholars, providers, McKinney-Vento liaisons), and policymakers about the long-term drivers of youth homelessness, the conditions that trigger it, the opportunities we missed to intervene, and how we can change that.
What It Means
We can prevent and end homelessness. We have created a national strategy to prevent homelessness. Our next steps include creating an implementation plan, working across systems and stakeholders to decide next steps in making our vision a reality—one that young people deserve.
Download New Opportunities: A Nationanl Strategy to End Youth Homelessness.
