Listen to thisIf you’ve walked the streets of the Ave, chances are you’re familiar with the homelessness crisis. In recent years, this is something that has become more of an issue. We saw a lot of discussion about it during the mayoral debate, and a year and a half ago, Mayor Ed Murray declared a state of emergency.
There is no better illustration of the homelessness crisis, though, than the sharp spike in youth homelessness in Washington. Between 2011 and 2015, we have seen an increase of 30 percent in the number of homeless youth, but we’ve only seen an increase of nine percent in funding to combat it. Though the numbers are out-dated, the trends aren’t: In the 2015-2016 school year, there was another increase of about 4,500 students, from 35,500 to 40,000, which is an increase of almost 13 percent. These numbers don’t even include students that have either dropped out of high school or are enrolled in college, so, if we were to use the traditional definition of “youth” as defined in different pieces of legislation – under 25 years old – the numbers would increase even more.
What’s the cause of this, though? Why is there such a sharp increase? Is there one reason or a combination of factors?
Well, unsurprisingly, it is indeed a combination of many, many factors. Rent increase, income inequality, well-intentioned but ill-implemented legislation, the criminal justice system, the foster system, and of course, both lack of funding and funding going to the wrong places – just to name a few.
I interviewed Kristine Scott and Jordan Beaudry from ROOTS, a low-barrier youth homeless shelter situated in the U-District, and they noticed a pattern regarding who was affected: foster kids, the queer community, and people of color.
About 40 percent of children that grow up in foster care end up homeless, even though, according to a 2014 report, only about 1 in 184 children – which is 0.5 percent – actually go through the foster care system. Up to 40 percent of homeless youth identifies as queer, even though only seven percent of the general youth population identifies as such. Youth of color are also disproportionately more likely to end up in juvenile delinquency, which is directly linked to homelessness. A recent study found that nearly 44 percent of homeless youth had stayed in a jail, prison, or juvenile detention center. Indeed, these populations are disproportionately affected.
Youth homelessness is a complicated issue, but it needs to be addressed promptly because it is often homeless youth that transition into homeless adults. Because it’s such a complicated issue, though, one article isn’t really enough to gain a better, deeper understanding of why we’re seeing such an increase, which is why starting fall quarter I’m going to be writing a series of articles, published weekly, on youth homelessness, diving further into the issues touched on in this article.
Ensuring that the current homeless adult crisis is addressed is important, but we really need to increase our efforts in addressing youth homelessness – scooping out buckets of water from a sinking boat can be useful, but plugging up the leak is the only way to stop a boat from sinking. That can only be done, though, if we actually plug up the leak before we’re left chained to the deck, standing neck-deep in cold water, slowly sinking.
By Ayesha Saleem
16 August 2017
http://www.dailyuw.com/opinion/article_95ac31a4-828b-11e7-ac43-3f1015c70953.html
