Sementelli 1

Rene Sementelli
Mrs. Harrell
English IV Honors
November 7th, 2014
Research Paper
In the United States, homelessness is a revolving-door crisis. This means that a person
could be homeless on any given night but not be homeless the next night. One is considered
homeless if he/she is of no fixed address. Many other definitions are available, however there is a
main consensus; homelessness is a condition, not an attribution. It is estimated that there are 3.5
million people annually who will require emergency shelter in the US for some period of time
(Witherbee 5). Of those 3.5 million, approximately 1,682,900 are youth under the age of 18
(Homeless Youth). Isnt it time that assumptions about homelessness are reconsidered?
Homeless rates tripled between 1981 and 1989, and that trend has continued into the 21st century.
Contrary to popular belief, homeless youth are victims of circumstances rather than victims of
choice.
The most prominent cause of youth homelessness is family problems. Among these
issues are physical/sexual abuse, strained relationships and parental neglect. In one study
conducted by the US Department of Health and Human Services, more than half of the youth
who were interviewed during their stays at a shelter said that their parents either told them to
leave or knew they were leaving and did nothing to stop them. In another study, it was reported
that 17% of runaway or homeless youth were forced into unwanted sexual activity by a member
of the household and another 46% had been physically abused (Homeless Youth). Addiction of
a family member also falls into this category. Parents or guardians who become addicted to drugs

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or alcohol often spend all of their money on their habit and, in turn, cannot support the
adolescent theyre caring for. This situation leaves the adolescent no choice but to leave home
and seek help at a nearby shelter.
Another significant cause of the rising homeless youth population is economic
difficulties. In the United States, there is a lack of affordable housing, limited job opportunities
available for those under 18 years of age and insufficient wages. Between 2000 and 2002, the
price of housing rose 22%, and those prices have doubled in the last ten years. Today, to be
capable of affording a two bedroom apartment at the nations national average, the head of a
household would have to earn $14.66 per hour (Witherbee 5). Regrettably, the federal minimum
wage is less than half that at only $7.25 per hour. As a matter of fact, the nations minimum
wage has been falling farther behind the rising prices of housing, groceries and many other
consumer goods. For this reason, it is very difficult for one working at minimum wage to be able
to reach financial stability.
The most overlooked cause of youth homeless is residential instability. Many of the
homeless youth in the US have a history of foster care. These children are at a higher risk for
being homeless for a longer period of time, starting at a younger age. Some children who are
living in institutional or residential placement become homeless upon discharge; they are
released when they are too old to be put into foster care, but they have no housing or income
support. A study directed by the National Association of Social Workers shows that one in five
youth at homeless shelters came directly from foster care, and that more than a quarter of the
youth had been in foster care in the previous year (Homeless Youth).
With regards to the roots of youth homelessness, it is safe to say that these children have
not chosen to live like this due to their own personal choices, but rather, they have been given no

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other choice. For more than 30 years, the number of homeless victims has been steadily
increasing as each year passes. Using past data, it can be estimated that there are going to be 4
million people in the US who will require emergency shelter in 2015, and roughly half of those
victims will be youth under the age of 18. Instead of looking over homeless youth on street
corners due to the belief that they are victims of their own choices, it should be recognized that
they are victims of social conditions who need help finding stability.