COH-AWH-What_Would_it_Take
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
While the recommendations below cannot be considered prevention unless they are provided<br />
in the context of immediate access to housing, they are important to many youth and need to<br />
be highlighted here. Proposed improvements included:<br />
• Provide increased and consistent funding to all agencies and organizations offering emergency<br />
supports to youth, including particularly in commun<strong>it</strong>ies in which there are few services<br />
• Expand the availabil<strong>it</strong>y of emergency shelters and services for youth experiencing<br />
homelessness, including the availabil<strong>it</strong>y of emergency shelters for youth fleeing abuse<br />
• Provide life skills training w<strong>it</strong>hin all youth shelters<br />
• Provide youth w<strong>it</strong>h storage lockers in shelters<br />
• Increase the availabil<strong>it</strong>y of animal-friendly youth shelters<br />
MOVING FORWARD<br />
Youth’s comments on the youth homelessness sector demonstrate<br />
two key things: (1) the youth homelessness sector has not been<br />
designed to prevent youth homelessness, and (2) the youth<br />
homelessness sector needs increased investment and coordination<br />
to better prevent young people from becoming homeless, and to<br />
help youth trans<strong>it</strong>ion out of homelessness quickly. Importantly, in<br />
many commun<strong>it</strong>ies the youth homelessness sector is reorienting <strong>it</strong>self<br />
to prevention. This means investing in system coordination, early<br />
intervention programs, and housing stabilization efforts to rapidly<br />
re-house youth. For some organizations, this requires a re-thinking of<br />
approach at every level, including the frontline. As these shifts occur,<br />
improved access and availabil<strong>it</strong>y of services must be a cornerstone<br />
of this work. As we shift towards prevention, these young people<br />
remind us of the urgent action needed across systems to make youth<br />
homelessness prevention possible.<br />
“A lot of agencies<br />
work independently<br />
from one another,<br />
and they can do<br />
external referrals, but<br />
a lot of them don’t in<br />
larger commun<strong>it</strong>ies.<br />
And there should<br />
be provincially set<br />
standards, where<br />
agencies and social<br />
services work<br />
together to be able to<br />
fill in those gaps that<br />
they’re missing.”<br />
KAMLOOPS YOUTH<br />
WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 95
Change language