Youth Make Up Staggering Portion of Florida’s Homeless Population
by Hayley Michelle Clemmer | The Florida Free Press
ORLANDO — They might not be holding cardboard signs asking for money or sleeping on sidewalks, but youth represent a significant percentage of the homeless population in Florida.
The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness reports that 95,167 Florida students experienced homelessness during the 2017–2018 school year. Out of this number, 7,839 were unaccompanied, meaning they were living without adult care or supervision. The definition of youth includes ages 13–24.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, many unaccompanied youth flee from their families because of instability at home, which is often fueled by abuse or parental drug addiction. Others run away or are kicked out by disapproving parents due to teen pregnancy or because they come out as, gay, lesbian or transgender.
Today, the exact number of unaccompanied homeless youth in Orlando is hard to determine. Many seek to stay hidden out of embarrassment or fear of being apprehended by police. While some sleep in cars, abandoned buildings or on a friend’s couch for the night, others are sexually exploited in exchange for a “safe place” to stay.
Homeless youth who still live with their families are often in this situation due to a lack of affordable housing options in Florida. Hurricane devastation in recent years has further exacerbated the living situations of many low-income residents.
Although most still attend school, homeless students — who frequently move between motels, friends’ houses and temporary shelters — struggle to achieve academic success.
“A University of Florida study shows these students will struggle in school and have lower education attainment,” writes Shannon Nazworth, the chairperson for the Florida Council on Homelessness in her 2019 report. “And, if not properly assisted, these students are at-risk of falling into literal homelessness, which will have life-long impacts on the children, their families and the communities in which they live.”
As Nazworth suggests, there is a particular urgency to address the problem of youth homelessness.
“The single most common trait of older homeless adults is that they were once homeless children,” Matthew Morton, a research specialist in youth development and homelessness from the University of Chicago, told the Orlando Sentinel.
Several agencies exist to help at-risk young people, but the needs often overwhelm the available resources. Because of this imbalance, homeless youth remain a largely underserved population.
Covenant House, an international organization that houses homeless and at-risk youth, is one of the major care providers for this demographic in Orlando. In recent years, however, Covenant House Orlando reduced its available beds from 48 to 25 due to budget cuts. The organization’s operations are also subsidized by the Fort Lauderdale location, since they cannot raise enough funds locally.
This is part of an ongoing series investigating homelessness and affordable housing in Central Florida.
