Marcia Amidon Lusted - I Am Homeless. Now What?

Published in 2017 by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

29 East 21st Street, New York, NY 10010

Copyright 2017 by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Lusted, Marcia Amidon, author.

Title: I am homeless. Now what? / Marcia Amidon Lusted.

Description: First edition. | New York : Rosen Publishing, 2017. | Series: Teen life 411 | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016017420 | ISBN 9781508171874 (library bound)

Subjects: LCSH: HomelessnessUnited StatesJuvenile literature. | Homeless teenagersUnited StatesJuvenile literature. | Homeless personsServices forUnited StatesJuvenile literature.

Classification: LCC HV4505 .L87 2017 | DDC 362.7/7569200830973dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016017420

Manufactured in Malaysia

I NTRODUCTION

W hen he first arrived in San Francisco, seventeen-year-old George slept in a tree in Golden Gate Park because he had nowhere to stay. He didnt expect to be homeless.

He had traveled to California after being told by his aunt that he had relatives in San Francisco with whom he could stay. When George arrived in the city, he learned that the address his aunt had given him was actually for a McDonalds restaurant, and his aunt admitted that he didnt have any relatives there. George was far away from his home in Missouri, with only $50 in his pocket and no place to stay or way to get home again. He was now officially homeless. George slept in the tree because it was safer than sleeping on the ground. The only bad thing that could happen in a tree is if you fell out, he said. He washed himself with paper towels in a public restroom. He ate very little to save his money. He tried contacting his family. I tried to call them twice and they didnt answer both times. Then I was like, Whats the use? he said, in a report to ABC News.

George found himself as just one of the approximately two million homeless teens in the United States. His story has a happy ending, because he found a place at a shelter, finished high school, and then attended a community college. But his story is too common. Teens are especially vulnerable to becoming homeless. They might be kicked out of their homes because they dont get along with parents or other family members. They run away. Or when their families fall victim to bad economic circumstances, they are simply left with no place to go.

Homelessness is officially defined by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act as lacking housing, which includes people who are living in transitional shelters or doubled up with friends in their housing. It is no longer an unusual situation, especially after an extended period of economic downturns from which the United States has just started recovering. Families dont have the safety nets that they once did, and the tough transition from bad times to good times is happening too slowly to rescue them. Some families simply dont have any resources left and are forced to split up and leave their teenage children to fend for themselves.

Many teens find themselves homeless because their families can no longer support them. They have no choice except to live on the streets.

It isnt always easy to tell if someone is homeless, but statistics show that there are many homeless teens all over the country.

Many smart, ambitious teens have suddenly found themselves yanked out of home and school through no fault of their own and forced to make their own way on the streets.

In short, homelessness is nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about. It does not mean that you are stupid, or bad, or not as good as everyone else. There are millions of teens in the very same situation, all over the country. And while the situation is incredibly frightening, distressing, and even disorienting, especially if youve always had a safe, secure home, there are many resources out there for you if you suddenly find yourself to be homeless. You arent alone, even if it feels like it. There are people and places ready to help you with shelter, food, psychological support, and school. You just need to know where to start.

CHAPTER 1

W HAT D OES I T M EAN TO B E H OMELESS ?

J ust how widespread a problem is homelessness today, and what does it really mean? According to the National Alliance to End Homelessnesss State of Homelessness in America 2015:

On a single night in January 2014, 578,424 people were experiencing homelessnessmeaning they were sleeping outside or in an emergency shelter or transitional housing program. From 2013 to 2014, a period of ongoing recovery from the Great Recession, overall homelessness decreased by 2.3 percent and homelessness decreased among every major subpopulation: unsheltered persons (10 percent), families (2.7 percent), chronically homeless individuals (2.5 percent), and veterans (10.5 percent).

On paper, the outlook might start looking encouraging, but the hard truth on the streets is that almost 40 percent of homeless people in the United States are under the age of eighteen, and 34 percent are under the age of twenty-four. The Department of Justice estimates that every year, over 1.7 million teens in America will experience homelessness.

I T S N OT A N EW T HING

It may seem like homeless teens are an issue that weve only been talking about for twenty years. But during the 1930s and the Great Depression in America, homeless teens were a common sight.

Whether they had been forced to leave home because of the economic situation there, or simply decided it was a good time to chase freedom, many teens wandered the country as hoboes, as covered in McKenna Tuckers Rail Riders article. They hitched illegal rides on freight trains, frequently encountering violence and being injured or even killed. They faced hunger, poverty, constant danger, illness, and discrimination. But many parents who could not afford to feed their children would tell their teens to leave. I wanted to stay home and fight that poverty with the family, said Clarence Lee, who was sixteen when he left home, but my father told me I had to leave...he meant I had to go...I didnt have it in my mind to leave until he told me, Go fend for yourself. I cannot afford to have you around any longer. Teens who left simply to find the romance and adventure of travel found themselves struggling simply to survive.

During the economic hardships of the Great Depression, teens were among the many homeless people looking for any place to sleep.

Some homeless families are able to find temporary housing in shelters, but there may be very little privacy.