Young voters formed the backbone of President Barack Obama’s coalition, but the recession in Obama’s economy has left “workers between the ages of 18 and 24 with the highest unemployment rate of all adults” and, as a result, a record number of young people–even those with college credits and work histories–are becoming homeless. They have been forced to live in shelters, sleep on couches, or live on the streets.
The New York Times profiled the homeless young and concluded “those who can move back home with their parents — the so-called boomerang set — are the lucky ones,” but that is often not an option for some who have to couch surf or sleep “hidden away in cars or other private places, hoping to avoid the lasting stigma of public homelessness during what they hope will be a temporary predicament.”
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Young people who are homeless fear they will be “victimized by an older, chronically homeless population” if they go to shelters. In addition, many of the homeless shelters have traditionally been directed to “dependent children and older people,” which is why there is “scant attention focused on what experts now call “transitional age youth” — young adults whose needs are distinct.”
