The Economic Consequences of Homelessness in The US

4National 1National Estimates
Homelessness Unaccompanied in the Homeless United Youth States
Data source: PIT 2017
In recent years, HUD has expanded Point-in-Time
(PIT) count data collection to include information
on the number of young adults and children
who are experiencing homelessness without
a parent or guardian present. Unaccompanied
youth are people under the age of 25 who are not
accompanied by a parent or guardian and are
not a parent presenting with or sleeping in the
same place as his or her children. These estimates
include both unaccompanied homeless youth
who are under the age of 18, and are a part of the
households with only children population and
unaccompanied homeless youth between the ages
of 18 and 24, who are a part of the households
without children population. HUD and its federal
partners selected the PIT counts from January 2017
as the baseline measure of homelessness among
unaccompanied youth. The baseline measure will
be used to assess future trends in the number of
unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness
in the United States.
EXHIBIT 4.1: Estimates of Unaccompanied
Homeless Youth
By Age and Sheltered Status, 2017
Total
Sheltered Unsheltered
All Homeless People
Unaccompanied Unaccompanied Unaccompanied
Unsheltered
Homeless Youth Youth
Youth
Sheltered
# % # % # %
All Homeless Individuals
All Unaccompanied 40,799 100.0% 18,542 100.0% 22,257 100.0%
Unaccompanied Youth Homeless (18-24) Youth
(under 25)
naccompanied Youth (under Unaccompanied
18)
4,789 11.7% 2,122 11.4% 2,667 12.0%
Homeless Youth
(under 18) 0 100
Unaccompanied
Homeless Youth
(18-24)
36,010 88.3% 16,420 88.6% 19,590 88.0%
EXHIBIT 4.2: Sheltered and Unsheltered
Unaccompanied Homeless Youth
By Sheltered Status, 2017
All Homeless
People
All Homeless
Individuals
Unaccompanied
Youth (18-24)
Unaccompanied
Youth (under 18)
0% 100%
52.3
65.2
34.8
47.7
45.6 54.4
44.3 55.7
On a Single Night in January
• There were 40,799 unaccompanied homeless
youth under the age of 25. This represents
just over seven percent of the total homeless
population and eleven percent of people
experiencing homelessness as individuals.
• In addition, there were 9,436 parents and
12,152 children in families in which the parent
was a youth. They are not included in this
chapter, but are described in the Families
chapter of this report.
• People between the ages of 18 and 24
account for most of the unaccompanied
homeless youth population (88% or 36,010
people). The remaining 12 percent (or 4,789
people) were under the age of 18.
• Unaccompanied homeless youth are much more
likely to be unsheltered (55%) than all people
experiencing homelessness (35%) or people
experiencing homelessness as individuals
(48%). The younger unaccompanied homeless
youth—people under age 18—are a slightly
more likely to be unsheltered (56%) than
unaccompanied homeless youth
age 18 to 24 (54%).
Demographic Characteristics of
Unaccompanied Youth
• The majority of unaccompanied
homeless youth experiencing
homelessness were men or boys
(62% or 25,131 people). The size of the
majority varied by sheltered status.
More than two thirds of unsheltered
unaccompanied homeless youth were
male (67% or 14,929 people) compared to
55 percent of sheltered unaccompanied
homeless youth.
• Transgender youth accounted for
approximately two percent of the
unaccompanied homeless youth population,
regardless of sheltered status. While
accounting for an extremely small share of
44
Sheltered
Unsheltered