7 Things You Can Do For Local Youth Experiencing Homelessness

“It’s the little things we take for granted that matter.”

According to Voices of Youth Count, 1 in 10 young adults and 1 in 30 teenagers face some form of homelessness in a year. That means it’s likely you’ve shared a school bus, hallway, or classroom with a young person experiencing homelessness in your community.

While youth homelessness is an unfortunately common experience, ways to help are just as prevalent. Here are a few different things you can do to support your friends, classmates, and neighbors who may be navigating homelessness (whether you know it or not).

1. Help provide meals in your community.

People navigating homelessness often struggle to find enough to eat, and this is especially true when it comes to young people, who often have a harder time accessing proper nutrition. One study found that one-third of unhoused and runaway teens experience food insecurity each month.

Find your local food pantry or meal provider, and ask how you can help. That could mean volunteering to help serve meals or making a donation of non-perishable food items.

2. Support your local homeless shelter.

Homeless and transitional shelters are so vital to getting young people the help that they need. Not only can they provide a safe place to sleep, they often also work to connect folks with other outside resources.

That’s why it’s so important to support these programs and help them continue to provide care. Find your local homeless shelter, and contact them about volunteering or making a donation (with the help of this seasonal donation guide).

3. Challenge your assumptions and educate others.

There are a lot of misconceptions out there about youth homelessness, and its lack of visibility accounts for a lot of the misunderstanding. We need to get introspective about our biases, learn the actual facts, and then help educate others. Pilar Barreyro, Director at Point Source Youth sums it up best:

“At minimum, challenge your assumptions and unpack your stigmas around homelessness, poverty and more. Emancipate yourself from misinformation by getting informed, asking questions, and using that knowledge to join the various fights for liberation.”

You can start by reading these 8 things you need to understand about youth experiencing homelessness. Then, watch and share youth perspectives from across the country at Point Source Youth’s Media & Visual Storytelling Library.

4. Share crucial resources.

For a lot of people, homelessness is a totally unexpected experience triggered by a sudden, destabilizing event (like job loss or a family tragedy), so folks may not know exactly where to seek help. It’s hard enough navigating different programs and services in general -- much less as a teenager.

You can make it easier for young people in your community to find the help they need. We’ve listed a few resources below -- share them on social media, print them on flyers, or even ask your teacher about ways to get them distributed in your school.

5. Advocate for policies that address youth homelessness.

One of the most impactful things you can do for youth experiencing homelessness is creating systemic change. Support policies that provide assistance and opportunity for currently unhoused individuals. Then go a step further and become an advocate for things like affordable housing, access to health care, livable wages, and criminal justice reform (all things that help prevent homelessness).

Use these websites to take action on policies related to general homelessness and youth homelessness. Plus, make sure you’re register to vote so that you can elect representatives who are committed to addressing homelessness in your community.

6. Just listen.

Whether it’s a classmate who’s currently unhoused, a person you just met at a shelter, or someone sharing their story of homelessness online, it’s important that you listen to the folks who are directly impacted by these issues. They know firsthand the problems they’ve faced and the help that they need, so let them communicate that to you.

And sometimes just listening is enough. In fact, the National Center for Health Research reports that youth experiencing homelessness often find it beneficial when people are “there for them” -- without trying to solve all of their problems.

7. Donate needed clothing (like jeans).

One of the most commonly requested items in homeless shelters is a pair of jeans. Why? Jeans are comfortable in any season and can be worn multiple times between washes. Plus, for a teenager without many belongings, wearing a pair of jeans can provide a sense of normalcy. Here’s what Hamilton Families Shelter Program Director Kathy Marsala had to say about it:

“Having a crisp new pair of jeans, believe it or not, boosts confidence, self-esteem, and makes them feel whole. At least while they are in school, they can forget that they are in a shelter and have some kind of normality amongst their peers. It's the little things we take for granted that matter.”