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Article Excerpt
In Los Angeles, homeless, street-dwelling youths are a barometer for social progress and a conspicuous reminder that educational and employment opportunities are often not a right to all, but a privilege to some. The Institute for the Study of Homelessness and Poverty (ISHP) (2004) estimated that there are at least 10,000 homeless youths, most of whom reside on the streets of Hollywood. In census tract 2063, an eight-block area of downtown in which the homeless population is heavily concentrated, the 2000 census documented that 529 children and youths younger than 18 were homeless, up from the 13 reported in 1990. Service providers within this census tract, however, estimated that the number of homeless minors is closer to 700 (Dyrness, Spoto, & Thompson, 2004). Needless to say, most studies seeking to quantify the homeless youth population resort to head counting in shelters and in the streets. As a result, many youths may be overlooked, particularly if they are denied access to shelters or do not seek services because of their mistrust of authorities (Kipke, Unger, O'Connor, Palmer, & LaFrance, 1997).
Myriad individual, familial, and structural factors precipitate the movement of youths into the streets to meet their needs. Individual risk factors include influences such as school difficulties and dropout, unwanted pregnancies, gang involvement, and alcohol and substance abuse (Greene, Ennett, & Ringwalt, 1997; Halcon & Litton, 2004; Kipke, O'Connor, Palmer, & MacKenzie, 1995). Problems with adults in the home are additional influences related to youth homelessness. Across studies, familial conflict, alcohol and substance abuse, and parental strictness, abuse, and neglect have all been cited as conditions present in the home environments of runaway youths (Cauce et al., 2000; Kurtz, Jarvis, & Kurtz, 1991). In addition, other family factors such as poverty, residential instability, and homelessness are implicated in the reasons youths run away (Halcon & Lifson). Lack of affordable housing is another major issue associated with homelessness in Los Angeles. The gap between the number of affordable housing units and demand is currently the largest on record (Burns, Drayse, Flaming, & Haydamack, 2003). This crisis has had a particularly severe effect on poor families with children, fueling the growth in the numbers of homeless women and children (Dennison, Mantley, Mendizabal, & White, 2001).
Earlier studies reveal that street-dwelling youths are a heterogeneous group encompassing multiple subgroups. As evidenced, youth homelessness can be triggered by both short- and long-term crises. Thus, youths on the streets comprise those who have substantial street histories as well as those who are temporarily homeless (Halcon & Lifson, 2004). They may include runaways from families in which physical and sexual abuse occurred; throwaways who are discarded by their families; youths who are drawn to the streets by gangs, drugs, or alcohol; youths who live on the streets as part of homeless families; or even undocumented youths with families in their countries (Halcon & Lifson; Kipke et al., 1997). Emancipated foster youths are also disproportionately represented in the homeless youth population. In Los Angeles and Alameda counties, of the 1,500 youths who exit the foster care system each year, an estimated 50 percent will be homeless within six months (Covenant House California, 2004).
Street-living youths are commonly involved in high-risk survival behaviors to meet their basic needs (Greene et al., 1997; Halcon & Lifson, 2004; Kipke et al., 1997). These behaviors may include prostitution or survival sex (participating in sexual acts in exchange for money, food, lodging, clothing, or drugs), pimping, pornography, panhandling, theft, selling stolen goods, mugging, dealing drugs, or conning others for goods. In an epidemiologic study of 752 homeless youths and their subsistence and service use patterns in Hollywood, Kipke and colleagues (1997) explored the multiple ways in which homeless youths financially support themselves. Among the most common means of subsistence were panhandling (73 percent), followed by survival sex or prostitution (46 percent), some form of employment (34 percent), drug dealing (32 percent), and stealing money or goods (29 percent).
Street-dwelling youths generally have limited service engagement outside of frequenting local drop-in centers for food, clothing, and showers. Their distrust of adults and institutions, transient nature, low self-esteem, lack of documentation, and concern for daily survival are all reasons that can contribute to their disconnection from services (De Rosa et al., 1999; ISHP, 2004). Their low service use combined with high-risk subsistence street behaviors make street-dwelling youths a population at risk of physical and mental illnesses as well as social deterioration. Common physical illnesses of homeless youths include respiratory and skin infections, gastrointestinal problems and malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, and other sexually transmitted diseases (Bailey, Camlin, & Ennett, 1998; Epstein, 1996; Halcon & Lifson, 2004). Homeless youths are subject to a variety of mental health problems as well, such as depression, suicidal ideation, trauma, and substance abuse (Cauce et al., 2000; Halcon & Lifson; Kipke et al., 1997; Molnar, Shade, Kral, Booth, &Watters, 1998). Socially, homeless youths are often unemployed, have limited formal job skills, and have low literacy and educational levels (Epstein).
Service providers must have a dual understanding of the influences and implications of youth homelessness as well as the youths' street subsistence behaviors so that they...
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