Youth Homelessness: A Real Problem That Ignoring Won't Fix

America is home to 1.3 million homeless children. In fact, children make up the fastest growing segment of the homeless population, many of them looking to escape from an abusive or dysfunctional home.

The numbers are fairly staggering, and in a country where there's an overwhelming emphasis on one's bootstraps, there can be a tendency to ignore this problem, to attribute it to poor decision-making and a lack of personal responsibility. One can only ignore if it's not seen first-hand. As Alison Hurst will tell you, taking a walk on Venice Beach on a weekday night eliminates that veil.

Hurst is the Venice Outreach Director of StandUp For Kids, an organization that works to provide relief and aid to homeless youth. Hurst told me devastating stories about the young people she's met who live in fear and confusion on the streets of Los Angeles. One 21-year-old, whom she's spoken to several times, was kicked out of his home at age 12 by an abusive father, and struggles with a spinal injury that keeps him in pain 24 hours a day. Another girl escaped an abusive family as a teenager and has lived as a prostitute for years. She's currently in prison and pregnant with her third child.

StandUp For Kids has given young people like this over one million meals and 100,000 counseling sessions since 1990. These kind of organizations take over where our child support services and public school systems fail. Congresswoman Diane Watson (D-CA) told me at a Causecast-sponsored benefit for StandUp For Kids that she became an advocate for homeless youth back when she was a teacher in Hollywood. She recalled discovering that a 12-year-old girl had been living in the school bathroom. Others questioned her decision to leave home, but Watson attributed her situation to an environment that put her at risk.

"Organizations like StandUp For Kids are essential in our communities," she said. "This program is about our youth. It's about family and bringing us together. Every child needs a parent and I think that's what this does."

Alison Hurst told me that Los Angeles county itself has between 12 and 15,000 homeless youths and only 460 beds in shelters.

"We've just run out of logic for them," Watson said.

With a few weeks left in National Youth Homelessness Awareness Month, now is the perfect time to step up and make a contribution, through time or money, to preventing further child poverty in our communities. Ignoring the issue is not an option.

Thankfully, prominent figures have been telling these stories and bringing the issue of youth homelessness more media attention, slowly but surely. August's Virgin Mobile FreeFest encouraged young people to give 30,000 hours of volunteer service to the cause, and Arianna Huffington wrote about this very issue on The Huffington Post in September.

It's a real issue, and there are many ways you can get involved. Start with StandUp For Kids or Crystal Stairs, another L.A.-based organized recommended by Rep. Watson. Join them and meet some of the young people they support. It's the best way to get started.

 

Follow Jonathan Daniel Harris on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jdbranded

Comments

[Sharon Corcoran]

We have to define who we are as a Nation. Are we a Nation of people who care more about tax cuts, the bottom line and will look the other way until it's our turn. Are we a caring Nation filled of hope and justice? We have been brainwashed to believe that anyone less fortunate is a bum and is the cause of our problems. This has changed recently because the welfare given to the wealthy is making headlines. I hope we don't have short term memories. Why should we care and work on solutions to these problems? Why shouldn't we is the question. if you want to look at it as a financial issue instead of a moral issue many seem to do that it will cost us much more if these kids end up in prison, mental hospitals, disabled, addicted to drugs or end up pregnant. Doesn't it make more sense to invest in these children now and give them a helping hand. The problem is to big to ignore any longer. These children are your children's peers. The real reson to care is that these are fellow human beings and this is America.

[mamacat]

I have never seen so many homeless teens as I have already seen this year. It is bad.
The first step in fixing problem is to realise that a problem exists, right? Well, we need to admit that we have a problem.

[Alexandre Laudet]

this story and the recent report that over half kids in the US will be on welfare at some point in their life, among others, are not getting enough play in the media. Adults make decisions, good or bad, and the kids pay the price. I am not saying the parents are at fault, only that anything that happens to the parents affects even more those who are least able to rectify the situation. At the risk of sounding trite, how in the world does a country like the USA lets itself get to this point? Hungry kids, homeless kids, kids with no health insurance? That's developing world territory. How is all this going to affect these kids as they become adults, their health, education, future? we need to do better. Thank you for the websites on where to help.

[CNosal]

For those in the D.C. area you can also get involved by attending Public Enemy's concert on November 18 to benefit the Sasha Bruce House. Tickets are $25 and those who bring a new or gently used cup will be upgraded to receive a V.I.P. ticket as available. www.aneveningwithpublicenemy.com. Others who want to get involved can donate to the cause online at: https://www.virginunite.com/Templates/Donate.aspx?nid=baa433fb-a751-4914-8258-0781487ed291&cid=76362312-4203-4870-a5cc-86dc310b9bea.

[OKL]

Critical issue and one that has been too easy to ignore. My Friends' Place is an outstanding drop-in and education center for homeless youth in Hollywood. One to keep on your radar! www.myfriendsplace.org.

[hypnotoad72]

Same thing for adults. HuffPo, a few weeks ago, had an article where the journalist went through a vacated house and found a report card with "A"s littered over the card.

And yet some (let's call them "naive and not nice people") would dare say their parents were irresponsible, somehow.

There are huge problems in this country and it's like the good people are treated worse than the real criminals, who are locked up behind bars and would undoubtedly murder or rape again if let out. And I worry these children will grow up and be less than good because of what our corporate leaders, aided by some of our government leaders in congress, are doing to them, us, everyone in this country - and their irresponsibility just about shattered the global economy, which was rescued by we, the taxpayers, increasingly feeling tired of being cheated at every turn. (even the naive, not-so-nice people will figure it out if it happens to them. Even they don't deserve it, however. I don't wish hell on even my worst enemy, so why wish it on these naive folks?)