Current State
Current State of Crisis Housing for Youth and Young Adults
In most communities around the country, congregate shelters are the only option available for people experiencing homelessness who need immediate housing. There are often few or no options that are dedicated to youth (under the age of 18) and young adults.
Many congregate shelters have harmful and restrictive policies rooted in racism, homophobia, and transphobia that make them an unsafe option, an option of last resort, or completely keep many Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Queer youth, particularly Trans* (1) youth, locked out. Examples of harmful and restrictive policies include those that restrict safe entry or retention of shelter due to drug or alcohol use, immigration status, and/or gender identity.
There is not a fully funded and organized prevention system that can serve youth or young adults and their families to ensure that those who want to remain with family (chosen family and birth family) have the resources and services needed to reunify or stay together, particularly for LGBTQ youth experiencing rejection and family conflict. These services are often fragmented across the child welfare system, runaway and homeless youth (RHY) providers, and other nonprofits serving youth and families.
Youth under the age of 18 who are experiencing homelessness separate from their families face major barriers in accessing crisis options. Many states and federally funded programs have requirements around parental notification and permissions that can lead to young people not being able to access crisis services and being at higher risk of sleeping on the streets or becoming trafficked. There is also a lack of connection between family homelessness services and youth homelessnes services which leads to older teenage youth in families being separated from the rest of their family experiencing homelessness in order to access services.
For these reasons, many youth and young adults are forced to choose to live unsheltered and in unsafe doubled-up situations where they are exposed to exploitation and violence. For many years youth who have experienced homelessness have told us that shelters cause harm and that we must create new crisis housing options that offer a safe and dignified way to receive immediate housing and services, including the services needed to return to or remain with birth and chosen families.
(1) Trans* is a term that is used to refer to both transgender identified individuals while also creating space for other gender-expansive identities people have who may not identify as explicitly transgender but are often have similar experiences with gender-binary systems.