Changing Patterns for Street Involved Youth

TORONTO – Almost half of Toronto’s street youth don’t want to be homeless – getting help for them early would make a big difference, says a groundbreaking study of Torontostreet-involved youth.

Changing Patterns for Street Involved Youth, released jointly by Yonge Street Mission, World Vision Canada and Public Interest, reflects interviews with 208 youth who camefrom all over Canada and found themselves homeless in Toronto.

"Many youth tell us they just want a home – they’re highly motivated but they need help getting there," says Karen Bach of the Yonge Street Mission. "The more we can intervene to help youth back into housing the less likely they will be to stay on the streets for years at a time."

Among the study’s most striking findings:

• Almost one in five youth have been on the street for less than three months and this period is the most effective time to help them return to housing.
• Youth who stay on the street for two years are less likely to leave – making an intervention within the first two years key to resolving the problem.
• Most youth who stay on the streets for as long as eight years end up trapped because it’s all they know and it becomes part of their identity.
• Immigrant street youth transition back into housing more rapidly.
• Sweet 16 isn’t so sweet for some: More youth (21%) end up on the street at 16 than at any other age, possibly because that’s the age it becomes legal.
• One in four youth leave home before the legal age. The younger they are, the more likely their stay on the street will last longer – seven years or more.
• Almost a third of the street youth interviewed came from other provinces; 14.6% came from other part of Ontario; only 22.7% were from the GTA.
• Over 40% of street youth experience mental health issues but few are able to access mental health services.