Homeless Youth in Canada

Last class in cultural issues and diversity, we had the opportunity to hear Sandy Sidsworth from CMHA speak within our classroom. Sandy spoke about homeless youth in our community and how the need for housing in the community is a huge concern. She spoke about how being in poverty and being known as “homeless” affects a person’s pride and people do not want to be connected. I think that this means it makes it harder for youth to reach out and say “ I need help” and this could be a growing concern because the resources available to them may not be known. She also spoke about how for young people, poverty “has the face of couch surfing” and continued to talk about how many youth in our community leave home, whether it’s because they’re being a bused at home, or whether it’s because they are just not getting along with their parents.  She talked about how these youth will just jump from house to house because they do not have a steady place to live. I reflected back to when I was in high school and I could remember so many people who “couch surfed” from one friends place to another. I didn’t realize how many teens do not have a safe place to live in this area, until Sandy came in to talk with us. Now I know that so many people that were “couch surfing” when I was in high school, could have potentially had no place to go. I searched the internet for statistics of homeless youth in Canada and came across  a website for “The Covenant House” which gave the following statistics:

• On any given night some 33,000 Canadians are homeless of which as many as 11,000 are youth.

• Today in Toronto, there are 12 shelters for youth, offering up to 522 beds. In 1979, there were only two youth shelters in the city, with a total of 95 beds. In the past 25 years there has been a 450% increase in youth shelter beds.

• In Toronto, a good estimate suggests there are at least 10,000 different youth who are homeless at one point on any given year - and anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 on a given night.

(The Covenant House, 2012)

I didn’t realize just how many homeless youth there are in Canada and even in Toronto alone. At the same time, its good to know that there has been an increase in support and shelters for these youth. In her presentation, Sandy went on to talk about how within this community there is still a huge need for housing for these youth and how networking and connections are a HUGE part in assisting these youth in finding a place to live. So through these networks, homeless youth should be able to receive the right amount of support if everyone works together. I think a huge problem, however, is monitoring youth and making sure that youth that do not have a home are supported, since it can be hard for them to come forward and know that there is support.