advocacy

Research shows that 1 in 10 young people between 18-25 and 1 in 30 between 13-18 experience homelessness annually, and HUD estimates, understood to represent a minimum estimate, show that at least 45,000 young people experience homelessness on any given night.

 Youth Homelessness most often involves a breakdown or conflict with a young person’s family, and failures of systems such as housing, education, child welfare, and justice. These factors, compounded with economic instability, lead to housing crises that ultimately cause homelessness. It is also a major symptom of America’s long history of structural racism and systemic inequities, meaning homelessness does not impact all young people equally. Regardless of the cause, young people in rural and urban areas experience homelessness at similar rates.