What is it like to be a youth and homeless in Victoria? To find out, read the current edition of Focus magazine (April, 2012). In “A Crisis of Youthful Poverty,” Simon Nattrass talks with several current residents of Threshold’s Holly House and Mitchell House. The article gives poignant voices to voiceless youth who all too often fall through the cracks.
Youth Homelessness is real
As the article summarizes: “Homeless kids don’t want to be on the street, but they do want freedom and independence. Theirs is not a crisis of direction or maturity or lack of discipline, but rather a crisis of maturing under an unsupportive, inflexible and impersonal system. They need the resources to feed, clothe and shelter themselves while establishing their independence. While the broader homeless community suffers with chronic drug abuse and mental illness, the coherent, responsible, intelligent youth who call the streets home see these problems as merely the natural result of being denied a chance at a normal life.”
The stories of many youth are harrowing. They run scared, hungry and feel paralyzed by anxiety. Often, they do not know how to access resources; a lot of the resources are not youth-friendly; and for various reasons, many youth today do not qualify for assistance from the government. The implicit question that Nattrass poses is the correct one, namely, in a land of plenty that is the Province of BC and Canada, why do we have such high child poverty rates and so many youth living in unstable and precarious housing situations?
Has our community gone hard on youth? Many of the current housing initiatives in the CRD do not have a youth housing component; there is no level of government that takes the youth housing crisis seriously with a plan to address it. In Canada, it is estimated there are approximately 65,000 homeless youth. Why is such a vast resource of talent and energy permitted to sink into hopelessness and despair?
However, there are bright lights in the community. Last month, the Fairfield Gonzales Community Association opened its new “youth space” for young people with the help of the City of Victoria. This will give youth a place to go, learn and interact. Also, the Burnside Gorge Community Centre will launch shortly its Youth Self-Sufficiency program that will help young people learn to save, access resources and build their own road into independent living. Last but not least, the Youth Empowerment Society remains a cornerstone of youth-aid in Victoria for many street-entrenched youth. Their drop-in centre, mental health liaison personnel, youth clinic and other services are invaluable.
In the month of April, Threshold Housing Society will launch its “Safe Housing for Youth” (SHY) program which will use current housing stock to house youth at-risk of being homeless. Stay tuned for details.