The numbers on the streets

CrossCurrents

How big of an issue is youth homelessness in Canada? While exact numbers are hard to come by – largely because the definition of homelessness is so wide and includes youth living on the streets, and even those “couch-surfing” in friends apartments, sleeping in cars – Calgary-based Raising the Roof, a national organization addressing homeless-ness, estimates that in Toronto, between 1,500 and 2,000 youth are homeless every night. According to Richard Barry at Raising the Roof,

An estimated 200,000 Canadians are homeless at some point in the year. Of that number, an estimated 30% are youth, which includes people 25 years old and under.

The number of beds has increased to house homeless youth. In Toronto, which has one of Canada’s largest homeless population, there are 12 shelters for youth, with 522 beds. In 1979, there were only two youth shelters in the city, with 95 beds.

In Toronto, nearly 6,000 youth use the shelter system at least one night in the year.

Jamie Leslie, project manager with The Back Door, a homeless youth support and resource centre in Calgary, attributes the growth to various reasons. “Part of it is that society isn’t integrating youth into adulthood well enough,” she says. “Even on top of the homelessness issue, a lot of young people are living with their parents until they’re 30.” Other factors that have added to the growth are still some of the longtime factors – home life isn’t appropriate for some, and may even be dangerous for others, and street culture still carries a certain appeal for some young people.

Resources about youth homelessness

www.homelessness.gc.ca The Canadian government’s National Homelessness Initiative

www.raisingtheroof.org A national organization working on the issue of homelessness

www.thebackdoor.ca Calgary-based homeless youth support and resource centre

www.evasinitiatives.com Toronto-based youth support and resource centre

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