Our Cause

Youth homelessness in Canada is an unacknowledged national crisis.¹

What is homelessness? 

The Canadian Observatory of Homelessness defines homelessness as “the situation of an individual, family or community without stable, safe, permanent, appropriate housing, or the immediate prospect, means and ability of acquiring it”.² More specifically, they define youth homelessness as “the situation and experience of young people between the ages of 13 and 24 who are living independently of parents and/or caregivers, but do not have the means or ability to acquire a stable, safe or consistent residence”.³ 

Who are the young people experiencing homelessness?

The Without a Home study included 1,103 youth ranging in age from 12 to 27 experiencing homelessness in 47 communities across 10 provinces and territories.⁴ Of the respondents, 57.6% identify as male and 36.4% identify as female, 29.5% identified as LGBTQ2S+, 30.6% identified as Indigenous, 28.2% identified as belonging to racialized communities, and 10.1% were born in a country other than Canada.⁴

What are the causes of youth homelessness?

The causes of youth homelessness are complex and individualized.⁴ For most, this pathway is not linear nor defined by one event.⁴ Personal factors contributing to homelessness include seeking independence, looking for work, mental health issues, challenges with drugs or alcohol, and trouble with the law.⁴ Young people may also leave home because of family breakdown, which includes abuse and addiction or mental health problems among a young person’s parents and abuse.⁴ Systematic failures to effectively transition a young person out of child protective services, juvenile detention or prison, or a mental health institution can lead directly to homelessness.⁴ In the case of child protective services, some young people leave care because of negative experiences while others simply age out of the system.⁴ Regardless of the reason they left, many are not provided with the resources and support they need to transition to independence and are vulnerable to housing instability and homelessness.⁴ Finally, powerful structural factors drive homelessness.⁴ Discrimination caused by racism, homophobia, and transphobia can cause young people to feel unsafe in their homes and communities.⁴ Economic changes (such as a decrease in full-time jobs for youth) and lack of affordable housing can also make it difficult for a young person to live independently.⁴ Generally speaking, youth homelessness is not a choice.³

What are the solutions? 

Since youth homelessness is driven by factors spanning personal, relational, structural, and systemic factors, tackling this challenge requires an integrated systems approach.⁴ This means that the federal, provincial/territorial, and municipal governments must consider and address how healthcare, education, child protection, and other institutions affect youth homelessness.⁴

There is a lack of rigorous evaluative evidence of youth homelessness services relied upon by many communities and governments, including youth shelters and whether they improve housing stability.⁵ Youth shelters are not the solution to youth homelessness, but they are an essential service that provides access to basic necessities such as food and hot showers for young people in crisis.¹ Once these needs are met, young people are more willing to tackle larger challenges.¹ The main goal of a youth shelter should be to provide temporary housing while giving young people the tools they need to become more independent.¹

Sources

1. Raising the Roof. (2009). Youth homelessness in Canada: The road to solutions. https://www.homelesshub.ca/sites/default/files/attachments/qbvwqaqz.pdf

2. Gaetz, S., Barr, C., Friesen, A., Harris, B., Hill, C., Kovacs-Burns, K., Pauly, B., Pearce, B., Turner, A., and Marsolais, A. (2012). Canadian Definition of Homelessness. Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. https://www.homelesshub.ca/sites/default/files/COHhomelessdefinition.pdf 

3. Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. (2016). Canadian Definition of Youth Homelessness. Homeless Hub. https://homelesshub.ca/sites/default/files/attachments/Definition%20of%20Youth%20Homelessness.pdf 

4. Gaetz, S., O’Grady, B., Kidd, S., and Schwan, K. (2016). Without a home: The national youth homelessness survey. Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. https://homelesshub.ca/sites/default/files/attachments/WithoutAHome-final.pdf 

5. Morton, M. H., Kugley, S., Epstein, R., & Farrell, A. (2020). Interventions for youth homelessness: A systematic review of effectiveness studies. Children and Youth Services Review, 116. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740920308616

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