On a given night in 2015, there were 14,689 unaccompanied homeless youth between the ages of 18 and 24 without shelter in the United States and not enough shelter beds to give them shelter in each Continuum of Care (CoC). To have enough shelter for each unaccompanied homeless young adult in each Continuum of Care, an additional 13,059 to 13,526 shelter beds are needed in emergency shelters, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing.
According to data from the 2015 Point-in-Time Count, unaccompanied homeless children without shelter are located in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and additional shelter beds are needed for unaccompanied homeless children in 47 states. As our previous blog discussed, this need remained the same as in 2014.
Unaccompanied homeless young adults without shelter are located across the country. Unaccompanied homeless young adults without shelter are located in 328 of the 403 Continuum of Care areas in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. They are located in warmer and colder locations such as in 9 of the 11 Texas CoCs and in all 3 Colorado CoCs.
The need for additional shelter beds also occurs across the country. Additional shelter beds are needed for unaccompanied homeless young adults without shelter in at least 273 to 295 CoC areas, if every empty emergency shelter bed, transitional housing bed, and permanent housing bed in the CoC for unaccompanied youth is considered available.
Both urban and suburban and rural areas need additional shelter beds. More than 1,000 shelter beds are needed in each of the urban areas of the San Francisco CoC, Los Angeles City and County CoC, and Las Vegas/Clark County CoC. Additional shelter beds also are needed in five of the six statewide Continuum of Care areas. Twenty-seven to thirty-two of the CoC areas where additional shelter beds are needed comprise large rural portions of a state in the Balance of State Continuum of Care areas.
The need is extraordinary in many areas. Fifty or more additional shelter beds are needed in 45 to 47 of these CoC areas. More than 100 additional shelter beds are needed in 24 to 26 of these CoC areas in 11 to 12 states.
With the danger and sexual exploitation that homeless young people face living on the streets, repeated episodes of homelessness that many homeless youth experience, and similar numbers of homeless youth without shelter for at least two years, additional resources, in addition to resources to renew existing shelter facilities, should be made available for all of these CoC areas so that no unaccompanied youth between the ages of 18 and 24 has to sleep in the streets and in other unsafe places not meant for human habitation.