Without A Home: The National Youth Homelessness Survey

5.3 The Need to Help Young People Make Rapid
Exits from Homelessness
Research on youth homelessness has consistently identified that when young people become
and remain homeless for an extended period, they experience increasingly negative outcomes
in terms of their housing stability, health and well-being, mental health, addictions, and safety.
Moreover, life on the streets means that staying in school or maintaining employment are very
challenging. The outcome for many young people in this situation is further entrenchment in
street life, making it more challenging for them to exit homelessness.
The data from our Without a Home study confirm a number of these findings:
• Ongoing housing instability – Many young people in our study
reported considerable housing instability prior to their current experience
of homelessness. For many, this instability continues once they are on the
streets. Over half of respondents reported that they had stayed in more than
one location the previous month, and 10.2% stayed in more than five places.
Lack of housing stability means continuing chaos for youth, undermining
their ability to care for themselves, stay in school or work, and access the
supports needed to move off the streets.
• Nutritional vulnerability – Many young people who are homeless do
not get enough food to meet their basic nutritional needs. While 26.8% report
having access to good quality food when they need it, almost half (46.3%)
experience this once a week or less. One of the consequences of this is that
when asked if they have enough energy for everyday life, one third (34.7%)
reported that they have little or no energy on a day-to-day basis. This low
energy undoubtedly has a significant impact on young people’s ability to work,
go to school, maintain healthy relationships, and move forward in their lives.
• Declining mental health – A very high percentage of respondents
(85.4%) reported high symptoms of distress, which would, if they were
housed, put them in a range midway between inpatient and outpatient
psychiatric care levels. Within our sample, 42% of participants reported at least
one suicide attempt and 35.2% reported having at least one drug overdose
requiring hospitalization. While young people with childhood experiences
of trauma and distress often arrive on the streets with serious mental health
challenges, prolonged experiences of homelessness greatly increases the risk
WITHOUT A HOME: THE NATIONAL YOUTH HOMELESSNESS SURVEY
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