Young Families Experiencing Homelessness in America; Homelessness Prevention in England; and More

In this briefing, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago analyzes homelessness among youth who are pregnant or parenting. It is the third in Voices of Youth Count’s series of research-to-impact briefs on understanding and addressing youth homelessness. Voices of Youth Count is a national initiative to fill gaps in America’s knowledge about the scope and scale of youth homelessness. Research suggests that the nearly 4.2 million adolescents and young adults in America who have experienced homelessness during a 12-month period are pregnant or parenting. The adolescent or young adult stage in life can foster a unique set of challenges, such as having little or no experience living independently. Such challenges could make it difficult for them to effectively assume the responsibilities of parenthood. Chapin Hall recommends strengthening efforts around pregnancy prevention; relationship building; and service engagement.

Read the brief on the IGH Hub.

Joseph W. Mead and Sara Rankin of City Lab discuss increased criminalization among the homelessness population across America. According to the reporters, restriction placed upon the population includes rules or laws that prohibits them from engaging in necessary, life-sustaining activities, such as sitting, standing, sleeping, or asking for help, without providing reasonable alternative. According to their research, professors at City Lab suggest that such enforcement is counterproductive and they encourage communities to refrain from punishing people who “live in public and have nowhere else to go”. Experts also argue that criminal enforcement makes it harder to exit homelessness.

“Jails and prisons make extremely expensive and ineffective homeless shelters,” said Mead and Rankin.

Read the article here.

For the first time, the city of Chicago’s official database for homelessness among individuals, maintained by All Chicago, and data collected by Chicago Public Schools, that analyzes student homelessness, has been combined to draw figures of family homelessness in a new study. Mark Brown of the Chicago Sun Times reports that approximately 10,000 families experienced homelessness in Chicago at some point during the past year, according to the study. It also provides demographic insights into homelessness among families. Based on the study, advocates led by the Corporation for Supportive Housing urge the city and state to increase funds toward homelessness prevention and to make families living in inadequate – overcrowded – conditions eligible for services.

Read the article here.

According to the head of Cornwall, England’s Housing Strategy and Partnerships department, Mel Brain, nearly 6,000 families reported that they felt they were at risk of homelessness in 2016. Under new law, households can be classified as ‘homeless’ within 56 days of an eviction notice, compared to the previous 28-day time-frame. This increase can allow households more time to improve their situation before being forced into homelessness. In addition, local authorities are now required to provide such households with assistance prior to eviction.

“If someone is homeless or threatened with homelessness we need to carry out an assessment and you then have to set out a housing plan which sets out what steps they need to take to prevent homelessness,” said Brain.

Read the article here.