Without A Home: The National Youth Homelessness Survey

4.4 Employment and Financial Security
Young people who are homeless face considerable challenges in obtaining and maintaining
employment (Baron & Hartnagel, 2002; Gaetz & O’Grady, 2002; Karabanow, 2010b;
O’Grady & Gaetz, 2004; O’Grady et al., 1998; Keenan et al., 2006; Robinson & Baron,
2007). This is not due to a lack of desire for employment or low motivation. Rather, it is a
reflection of their social exclusion. Homeless youth’s lack of housing makes it very difficult
to establish a routine, provide potential employers with an address on job applications, or
establish a space in which to rest and recover from daily stresses. Youth without housing
often lack the sufficient food, adequate clothing, and other supports needed to maintain
regular employment. Such challenges impede access to employment because they are
often competing with other youth who are far better resourced for jobs in an already
narrow youth employment sector. Although many youth experiencing homelessness may
not be employed in traditional jobs, that does not necessarily mean they are not working.
Because homeless youth face considerable barriers to employment, many engage in
what are referred to as ‘informal’ economic activities outside of the formal labour market.
Some of these jobs are technically legal, for example ‘under the table’ jobs, or ‘binning’
(collecting bottles for refunds). Some youth engage in more risky, illegal, or quasi-legal
activities, including the sex trade, panhandling (begging), squeegeeing (cleaning car
windshields), and criminal acts such as theft and drug dealing (Gaetz et al., 1999; Gaetz &
O’Grady, 2002; O’Grady et al., 1998; O’Grady & Gaetz, 2004).
In our survey we asked young people about their income generating activities over the
previous month.
The following table shows that the main
44.6%
source of income, reported by close to 45%
of our sample, was social assistance.
of youth received
money from social
assistance
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WITHOUT A HOME: THE NATIONAL YOUTH HOMELESSNESS SURVEY