{"id":33639,"date":"2018-03-02T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-02T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/researchdev\/2018\/03\/02\/seminal-report-on-youth-homelessness-delivers-sound-policy-recommendations-2\/"},"modified":"2025-01-30T08:59:40","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T13:59:40","slug":"seminal-report-on-youth-homelessness-delivers-sound-policy-recommendations-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/research\/2018\/03\/02\/seminal-report-on-youth-homelessness-delivers-sound-policy-recommendations-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Seminal report on youth homelessness delivers sound policy recommendations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Through a ground-breaking new brief, the Homeless Hub paints a vivid picture of youth homelessness and the child welfare system. Its findings will be relevant to decision- and policy-makers at all levels of government. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Homeless Hub, the research arm of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness (COH) at York University, is knowledge mobilization at its best. This organization undertakes trail-blazing research that informs policy and affects meaningful change. Most recently, the Homeless Hub released a report, Child Welfare and Youth Homelessness in Canada: A Proposal for Action <\/em>(2017), published by COH Press in partnership with A Way Home Canada, and funded by the Home Depot Canada Foundation\u2019s Orange Door Project.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Homeless<\/p>\n

New report sheds light on youth homelessness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Using freshly mined data from Without a Home: The National Youth Homelessness Survey<\/em> (2016), researchers led by President and CEO of Homeless Hub\/COH and York Faculty of Education Professor Stephen Gaetz shed new light on this pressing issue. Capturing the experiences of 1,103 homeless young people in 42 different communities in nine provinces and Nunavut, the survey offers the first national portrait of Canada\u2019s population of homeless youth. Its breadth allowed the researchers to gain previously unattainable information, expose some unsettling facts and provide sound policy recommendations.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Stephen Gaetz<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This report paints a new and vivid picture of youth homelessness that underscores a connection to the child welfare system, with an emphasis on the transition from care. Thirty per cent of surveyed youth see this transition as directly impacting their current situation of homelessness, and 57 per cent of youth who \u201caged out\u201d of care would have appreciated continued support, if it were available.<\/p>\n

\u201cChild protection legislation and practice haven\u2019t kept pace with current social and economic changes that make it much more difficult for people in their teens and twenties to live independently,\u201d says Gaetz.<\/p>\n

This is Gaetz\u2019s lifework. In fact, in 2016, he was appointed to the Order of Canada for his leadership in providing evidence-based research to policy makers and practitioners in the movement to prevent and reduce homelessness in Canada.<\/p>\n

Few organizations are better set up than the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and the Homeless Hub to make policy suggestions in this area. A core belief is that research can, and should, contribute to solutions to homelessness. Launched in 2007, the Hub was created to address the need for a single place to find pan-Canadian homelessness information.\u00a0A decade later, it has become an indispensable resource where service providers, researchers, government representatives, students and members of the public can access and share research, stories and best practices.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Homeless youth are 193 times more likely than members of the public to have been involved with the child welfare system<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Report provides new window on vulnerability<\/h3>\n

In addition to the facts around transition from care, Child Welfare and Youth Homelessness in Canada<\/em> brought to light some troubling realities about the vulnerabilities of homeless youth, such as:<\/p>\n