Homeless Youth

Youth experiencing homelessness experience violence victimization, substance use, suicide risk, and sexual risk disproportionately, compared with their stably housed peers. Yet few large-scale assessments of these differences among high school students exist. The youth risk behavior survey (YRBS) is conducted biennially among local, state, and nationally representative samples of U.S. high school students in grades 9–12. In 2019, 23 states and 11 local school districts included a measure for housing status on their YRBS questionnaire. The prevalence of homelessness was assessed among states and local sites, and relationships between housing status and violence victimization, substance use, suicide risk, and sexual risk behaviors were evaluated using logistic regression. Compared with stably housed students, students experiencing homelessness were twice as likely to report misuse of prescription pain medicine, three times as likely to be threatened or injured with a weapon at school, and three times as likely to report attempting suicide. These findings indicate a need for intervention efforts to increase support, resources, and services for homeless youth.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has magnified detrimental social and health experiences and consequences for youth at risk of or experiencing homelessness. Recent research indicates that heightened household tensions due to stay-at-home orders, coupled with pandemic-related financial insecurities, have worsened pre-existing factors for many young people, particularly for those experiencing stigma and violence. As a result, it can be projected that the risk and experience of youth homelessness will intensify. In spite of this, there has been scarce attention to the impacts the current context has on these vulnerable groups. This commentary aims to bring attention to the prevailing issues and challenges faced by youth at-risk of homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic and provides crucial considerations for preventative solutions by incorporating the Roadmap for the Prevention of Youth Homelessness Framework. Based on research across fields, we offer insights for equity-focused, collaborative interventions, focusing on the education and social services sectors.

The Voices of Youth Count initiative's systematic evidence review is the most comprehensive synthesis of evaluation evidence on programs and practices related to youth homelessness to date. This document is one in a series of seven topical evidence summaries derived from the longer evidence review brief. Herein, evaluations of economic and employment interventions for youth experiencing homelessness are summarized. These interventions typically involve a range of components such as vocational training, career services, apprenticeships, and financial services and assistance. The evidence here includes only impact evaluations designed to assess measurable changes in outcomes due to specific programs and practices.

Financial challenges, social and material instability, familial problems, living conditions, structural issues, and mental health problems have been shown to contribute to youth homelessness. Based on the paucity of literature on mental illness as a reason for youth homelessness, the current study retrospectively evaluated the association between the timing of homelessness onset (youth versus adult) and mental illness as a reason for homelessness among homeless adults living in homeless shelters and/or receiving services from homeless-serving agencies. Homeless participants (N = 919; 67.3% men) were recruited within two independent studies from Dallas and Oklahoma. Covariate-adjusted logistic regressions were used to measure associations between homelessness onset and mental illness as a reason for current homelessness, history of specific mental illnesses, the historical presence of severe mental illness, and severe mental illness comorbidity. Overall, 29.5% of the sample reported youth-onset homelessness and 24.4% reported mental illness as the reason for current homelessness. Results indicated that mental illness as a reason for current homelessness, history of specific mental illnesses, Schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder, history of severe mental illness, and severe mental illness comorbidities were each associated with increased odds of youth-onset homelessness. A better understanding of these relationships could inform needs for early interventions and/or better prepare agencies that serve at-risk youth to address precursors to youth homelessness.

"Research has identified higher rates of mental disorders among former child welfare youth and
youth experiencing homelessness when compared with their peers in the general population.
Given the growing number of campus support programs serving these youth, research should
focus on students in these programs to understand whether mental health problems interfere
with these students’ receipt of program services, which can lead to unsatisfactory academic
performance. This study collected both quantitative and qualitative data from students in a
campus support program to examine the prevalence of mental disorders, mental health
service use, receipt of program services, students’ grade point average, and their perceptions
of obstacles and motivations to academic success. Implications for social work research and
practice are discussed"

The present study used a diffusion of innovations framework to examine social network correlates of service use over a three-month period. Positive staff relationships, personal network exposure, and structural network measures were examined. Participants were 253 youth experiencing homelessness (YEH) (Mage = 21.9, SD = 2.2) participating in an HIV-prevention trial at three drop-in centers in Los Angeles. A significant minority of YEH used education (23.6%) or employment (33.7%) services at wave 1, with modest increases at waves 2 and 3. Indegree centrality was associated with education service use at wave 1. Positive staff relationships were associated with employment service use at wave 1, and outdegree was associated with employment service use at wave 3. In addition, education level, housing situation, LGBTQ+ identity, drop-in center location, and duration of drop-in center use were related to service usage. Youth who occupy more central network positions and/or report positive relationships with staff are more likely to use higher-level drop-in services. Network approaches to engaging youth in services should be considered along with other individual and contextual factors.

At a time when homelessness, inequality and poverty plague Canadian society, an organization in Whistler, British Columbia has been working for over 20 years to combat some of the associated issues faced by vulnerable youth. This multi-year research project explored one of the programs offered by the organization with the intent of gaining an understanding of the short- and long-term impact, the future requirements for sustainability and growth, and the alignment of the program to local and regional needs. Through a series of focus groups, qualitative data was collected and, while the focus of the research project fell across the identified program foci of housing, employment, participant experience, and support, this article focuses specifically on the findings related to employment. The five themes that were identified in the data collected included: participants’ context, processes to support accountability, contributors to success, challenges, and participants’ suggestions for improvement. Across these themes and sub-themes, it was clear that stable employment is a necessary component of a comprehensive program that supports youth as they build resilience and combat homelessness.

Recent estimates indicate that there are over 1 million runaway and homeless youth and young adults (RHY) in the United States (US). Exposure to trauma, violence, and substance abuse, coupled with a lack of community support services, puts homeless youth at high risk of being exploited and trafficked. Although access to safe housing and supportive services such as physical and mental healthcare is an effective response to youth’s vulnerability towards being trafficked, the number of youth experiencing homelessness exceeds the capacity of available housing resources in most US communities. We undertake a RHY-informed, systematic, and data-driven approach to project the collective capacity required by service providers to adequately meet the needs of RHY in New York City, including those most at risk of being trafficked. Our approach involves an integer linear programming model that extends the multiple multidimensional knap-sack problem and is informed by partnerships with key stakeholders. The mathematical model allows for time-dependent allocation and capacity expansion, while incorporating stochastic youth arrivals and length of stays, services provided in a periodic fashion, and service delivery time windows. Our RHY and service provider-centered approach is an important step toward meeting the actual, rather than presumed, survival needs of vulnerable youth.

Between 5–9% of American adolescents experience 1+ episode of independent homelessness. Although multiple stressors have consistently been shown to precede runaway behavior, sampling homeless populations fails to capture variation between juveniles who run/do not run. This research uses Waves I and II of the Add Health public use data to examine conditions likely to result in a first-time run among males vs. females. Specifically, we argue that strains/negative emotion derived from Agnew’s general strain theory and social controls derived from Hirschi’s social bond theory will act as positive and negative motivations, respectively, to predict first-time runs. We find significant, main effects on running for multiple strain and control measures. However, results of our integrated models suggest that, while composite strain and depression increase the odds of running across gender, composite social control is associated with lower odds of running for females only. This finding underscores prior research suggesting that social bonds may have a stronger protective impact on females considering a first-time run.

The current study examined heterogeneous trajectories of suicidal ideation among homeless youth experiencing suicidal ideation over 9 months in a randomized controlled intervention study. Suicidal homeless youth (N = 150) were randomly assigned to Cognitive Therapy for Suicide Prevention (CTSP) þ Treatment as Usual (TAU) or TAU alone. Youth reported their suicidal ideation four times during a 9-month period. We also assessed pretreatment mental health, demographic information and session attendance as predictors of the subgroups, as well as suicide-related factors as outcomes at the 9-month follow-up. Growth mixture models suggested three distinct trajectory groups among youth: Fast Declining (74.7%), Chronic (19.3%), and Steadily Declining (6.0%). Youth in the Chronic group used more substances at baseline than the Steadily Declining group, were more likely to be White, non-Hispanic than the Fast-Declining group, and attended more CTSP sessions than other groups. Contrastingly, youth in the Steadily Declining group all experienced childhood abuse. Finally, youth in the Chronic group showed significant higher risk for future suicide compared to those in the Fast-Declining group at 9 months. Findings support the heterogeneity of treatment responses in suicide intervention among homeless youth, with implications to improve treatment efforts in this very high-risk population.