Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Prevalence of Youth Homelessness in the United States

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Clinical Care for Homeless, Runaway and Refugee Youth

Abstract

Youth homelessness is widely recognized as a major social problem in the United States. However, despite decades of research on homeless youth, no one really knows the number of young people who experience homelessness or how that number has changed over time. This chapter begins with an examination of the variation in prior estimates of America’s homeless youth population. Next, it explores the reasons for this variation and the challenges associated with obtaining accurate information about the prevalence of homelessness among youth. This is followed by a review of recent efforts to overcome those challenges including the first national 12-month prevalence estimate. It concludes with a discussion of why credible data on the number of youth experiencing homelessness are so important and how those data could be produced.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. 1.

    USICH is composed of several federal agencies including the three that are most closely involved in addressing the needs of homeless youth: the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the U.S. Department of Education (ED).

  2. 2.

    Students were asked some version of “Where did you usually sleep at night?” but the time frame (e.g., past 12 months, past 30 days, usually) and the response options varied.

  3. 3.

    Technically, the counts are organized and conducted by the local or regional Continuum of Care (CoC). The CoC promotes community-wide planning and strategic use of resources to address homelessness among individuals (including unaccompanied youth) and families.

  4. 4.

    In fact, couch-surfing youth are explicitly excluded from the biennial HUD PIT count which is limited to individuals and families experiencing sheltered or unsheltered homelessness.

  5. 5.

    USICH is composed of several federal agencies including the three that are most closely involved in addressing the needs of homeless youth: the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the U.S. Department of Education (ED).

  6. 6.

    https://www.usich.gov/tools-for-action/youth-count/

  7. 7.

    https://www.huduser.gov/portal/pdredge/pdr-edge-frm-asst-sec-080816.html

  8. 8.

    https://www.gallup.com/224855/gallup-poll-work.aspx?utm_source=link_analyticsv9&utm_campaign=item_213755&utm_medium=copy

  9. 9.

    Some respondents belonged to more than one of the subsamples.

  10. 10.

    See Morton et al. for more details about the estimating methodology.

  11. 11.

    https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/about.html

References

  1. Auerswald C, Lin J, Petry L, Hyatt S. Hidden in plain sight: an assessment of youth inclusion in point-in-time counts of California’s unsheltered homeless population. Sacramento: California Homeless Youth Project; 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Auerswald C, Lin J, Parriott A. Six-year mortality in a street-recruited cohort of homeless youth in San Francisco, California. PeerJ. 2016;4:e1909.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Burt M, Aron L, Lee E. Helping America’s homeless: emergency shelter or affordable housing? Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press; 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Methodology of the youth risk behavior surveillance system—2013. Morbid Mortal Wkly. 2013;62:1–20.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Cunningham M, Pergamit M, Astone N, Luna J. Counting homeless youth: promising practices from the youth count! initiative. Washington, DC: Urban Institute; 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Cutuli J, Steinway C, Perlman S, Herbers J, Eyrich Garg K. Youth homelessness: prevalence and associations with weight in three regions. Health Soc Work. 2015;40:316–24.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Dworsky A, Horwitz B. Missed opportunities: counting youth experiencing homelessness in America. Chicago: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago; 2018.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Dworsky A, Morton MH, Samuels GM. Missed opportunities: pregnant and parenting youth experiencing homelessness in America. Chicago: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago; 2018.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Feldmann J, Middleman A. Homeless adolescents: common clinical concerns. Semin Pediatr Infect Dis. 2003;14:6–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Gallup I. Gallup daily methodology. New York: Gallup, Inc.; 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Hammer H, Finkelhor D, Sedlak A. Runaway/thrownaway children: national estimates and characteristics. National Incident Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Heerde J, Hemphill S, Scholes-Balog K. Fighting for survival: a systematic review of physically violent behavior perpetrated and experienced by homeless young people. Aggress Violent Behav. 2014;19:50–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Henry M, Watt R, Rosenthal L, Shivji A. The 2017 annual homeless assessment report (AHAR) to congress: part one. Washington, DC: Department of Housing and Urban Development; 2017.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Hodgson K, Shelton K, van den Bree M, Los F. Psychopathology in young people experiencing homelessness: a systematic review. Am J Public Health. 2013;103:24–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Medlow S, Klineberg E, Steinbeck K. The health diagnoses of homeless adolescents: a systematic review of the literature. J Adolesc. 2014;37:531–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Morton MH, Dworsky A, Samuels GM. Missed opportunities: youth homelessness in America. National estimates. Chicago: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago; 2017.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Morton MH, Samuels GM, Dworsky A, Patel S. Missed opportunities: LGBTQ youth homelessness in America. Chicago: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago; 2018.

    Google Scholar 

  18. National Center for Homeless Education. National overview. 2018. Retrieved on 16 Sept 2018 from http://profiles.nche.seiservices.com/ConsolidatedStateProfile.aspx

  19. Pergamit M, Cunningham M, Burt M, Lee P, Howell B, Bertumen K. Counting homeless youth: promising practices from the youth count! initiative. Washington, DC: Urban Institute; 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Perlman S, Willard J, Herbers J, Cutuli J, Eyrich Garg K. Youth homelessness: prevalence and mental health correlates. J Soc Soc Work Res. 2014;5:361–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Ringwalt C, Greene J, Robertson M, McPheeters M. The prevalence of homelessness among adolescents in the United States. Am J Public Health. 1998;88:1325–9.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Toro P, Dworsky A, Fowler P. Homeless youth in the United States: recent research findings and intervention approaches. In: 2007 National symposium on homelessness research. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  23. U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. Opening doors: federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness. Washington, DC: US Interagency Council on Homelessness; 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  24. U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. Framework to end youth homelessness: a resource text for dialogue and action. Washington, DC: US Interagency Council on Homelessness; 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Whitbeck L, Hoyt D, Yoder K, Cauce A, Paradise M. Deviant behavior and victimization among homeless and runaway adolescents. J Interpers Violence. 2001;16:1175–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Amy Dworsky

Authors
  1. Amy Dworsky
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amy Dworsky .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics (Retired), Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine, British Columbia Children’s Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Curren Warf

  2. School of Social Work, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Grant Charles

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Dworsky, A. (2020). The Prevalence of Youth Homelessness in the United States. In: Warf, C., Charles, G. (eds) Clinical Care for Homeless, Runaway and Refugee Youth. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40675-2_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40675-2_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-40674-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-40675-2

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation