Teen Homelessness: Good News and Bad News

by Shannon Moriarty · 2008-11-16 11:35:00 UTC
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Earlier this month, the Danbury, Connecticut community had a revelation: they discovered that a 17-year old girl, a senior at New Mildford High School, had been homeless and living out of her car for several weeks. The discovery shook the city to it's core, and now local citizens are taking steps to address youth homelessness in Danbury.

It's amazing how we see the numbers - over one million homeless youth in America - but they have no effect. "I don't see any homeless teens here," we think, "so those figures must not be accurate."Yet, the story of just one local homeless teen can have a profound effect on an entire community. Why does this happen?

It's easier to believe the rampant misconceptions about homelessness. It's easier to blame the individual than acknowledge the core systemic problems. It's easier to assume that it's happening elsewhere than accept the uncomfortable reality of homelessness in our own communities.

As an article in the News Times pointed out, the homeless girl in Danbury put a symbolic human face on the tragic issue of youth homelessness. Perhaps if more communities had a Danbury-style revelation, we'd make some real progress towards housing the hundreds of thousands of youth without a home.

In Danbury, the recent enlightenment has people talking about bigger challenges and the silver lining:

On the bad news front, there are some area officials who either have not treated the homelessness issue with enough sensitivity or concern, or who have denied there is a problem or turned their back on it.

The good news, at least in the case of the 17-year-old New Milford girl, is that dozens of caring people throughout the area have stepped forward to offer her a place in their home, and in some cases, the promise of financial assistance so she can go to college.

It is good news, too, that there are socially conscious individuals and groups who are aware of and sensitive to the problem, who have helped homeless individuals and who are actively seeking additional solutions.

If you knew a 17-year old teenager was living in her car in your town, you would want to help her. It's time for all of us to take a hard look at our own communities. Time for us to reach out to those who need help, even if their stories don't ever appear in the newspaper. Time for us to accept the reality of youth homelessness. Time for us to do something about it.

[Picture: a teenage girl living on the streets of Canada.]

Shannon Moriarty has worked in various homeless shelters and service organizations around the country. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
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