Without A Home: The National Youth Homelessness Survey

3. Communities and Municipalities
It is at the community level that youth homelessness is most effectively addressed. This is
where young people and their families live, and where key institutions deliver services and
supports. Below are ten key recommendations for communities and municipalities.
3.1 All communities and/or municipalities should plan
and implement strategies to prevent and end youth
homelessness.
In order to achieve success, communities should:
a) Nurture and support local leadership.
b) Convene a planning table using a ‘collective impact’ approach
that includes sector services, mainstream services, and ‘unusual
suspects’ (e.g., police, landlords).
c) Have as a goal that each young person’s experience of
homelessness be rare, brief, and non-recurring.
d) Use data for service integration and monitoring of progress.
3.2 Communities should focus on prevention and
strategies to move young people out of homelessness
instead of expanding emergency services.
The level of chronic homelessness amongst youth is very high (75%
according to the federal definition). The survey results powerfully
demonstrate the negative impact of prolonged experiences of homelessness.
3.3 Community strategies should focus on systems
integration to facilitate smooth transitions from
homelessness and ensure no young person slips
through the cracks.
Young people in the survey demonstrated a high degree of housing
instability while homeless, and presented with complex needs that require
support from a variety of services.
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WITHOUT A HOME: THE NATIONAL YOUTH HOMELESSNESS SURVEY