Youth Homelessness
Youth and young adults are a growing area of focus in communities’ efforts to prevent and end homelessness. Often undercounted by traditional point-in-time surveys, young people are more likely than adults to be unstably or unsafely housed with relatives or friends, and many have experience in the foster care and juvenile justice systems.
Particular subpopulations, such as Black and LGBTQ youth, experience homelessness at higher rates. In community planning on this issue, powerful youth voices must be central and “best available data” must be used to estimate as closely as possible the number of youth and young adults experiencing homelessness.
TAC has been on the forefront of planning and implementation efforts of communities nationally, bringing expertise in the design and implementation of housing and service models to serve youth and young adults; the application of Housing First, Positive Youth Development, equity awareness, and trauma-informed care principles to youth homelessness work; and cross-system collaboration to better understand the complete picture of this population within a given community.
Areas of Expertise
- Homeless systems planning and program development for youth
- Multi-system-involved youth
- Youth leadership in community planning processes and program planning and design
- Identification and leveraging of resources to serve youth
