Without A Home: The National Youth Homelessness Survey

Young people can be grouped into three age categories:
10.6%
Early adolescence
(13-16)
49%
Mid adolescence
(17-20)
37.4%
Young adulthood
(21-24)
It is important to note that there can be significant differences between individuals in the
timing and progress of changes associated with adolescence.
Interestingly, our data showed that women, LGBTQ2S youth, and newcomers tended
to be younger than their homeless peers, with more reporting to be in the early to mid
adolescence range.
2.3 Gender
Research on youth homelessness typically points to there being more males than females
who are homeless and in contact with the system (Segaert, 2013; Child Trends Data Bank,
2015). Much of this literature shows that males typically outnumber females 2:1 (O’Grady &
Gaetz, 2004). Because the streets are inherently unsafe, particularly for young women, it
has often been suggested that many young women are more likely to remain in precarious
living situations.
Research on gender-based differences among homeless youth populations has often failed
to capture the unique experiences of youth who do not identify with traditional categories
of male or female. As a result, we wanted to understand the range of gender identities
among youth who are homeless. We asked youth if they identified as cisgendered,
transgender, gender non-binary, or two-spirit.
WITHOUT A HOME: THE NATIONAL YOUTH HOMELESSNESS SURVEY
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