COH-AWH-What_Would_it_Take

1.1 POVERTY
The journey into homelessness for many youth begins with childhood experiences of poverty.
In addition to poor and precarious housing, youth discussed cycling in and out of family
homelessness, trying to hide their poverty from their classmates, and experiencing neglect
because caregivers simply couldn’t make ends meet. Multiple youth discussed going hungry
regularly, repairing their clothing during art class, borrowing spare change from friends, or
having to the use their school’s hot-glue gun to mend their shoes.
These experiences of poverty preceded child
welfare involvement for some, though several youth
reported similar poverty and neglect in foster care.
Poverty refers to the challenges people face when trying to meet their basic needs. Lack of
adequate income is the basis of poverty, and can contribute to inadequate shelter, nutritional
vulnerability, and poor health and well-being. Though not all youth experienced poverty as children,
poverty became a fairly universal experience once youth were kicked out or forced to leave home.
In focus groups across the country, youth explained
that lack of income was a key reason they became
homeless or were unable to escape homelessness.
“Especially recently,
I’ve had to choose
a lot between, like,
getting functional
clothing that isn’t torn
to shit and being able
to buy food.”
VANCOUVER YOUTH
When asked what would have prevented their homelessness,
youth from different backgrounds and regions frequently
responded “a job,” “more income,” or “more employment
opportunities.” For many, experiences of poverty were
intergenerational and cyclical, making it difficult to rely on the
resources of family or friends to escape.
Youth identified three key drivers of poverty that need to be
tackled in youth homelessness prevention efforts: (1) low social
assistance rates, (2) systemic barriers to obtaining social assistance
or employment, and (3) low wages and tight job markets.
WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 38