{"id":18909,"date":"2022-09-09T09:00:38","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T13:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=18909"},"modified":"2022-10-09T03:58:15","modified_gmt":"2022-10-09T07:58:15","slug":"homeless-youth-death-toll-doubles-in-la","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/homeless-youth-death-toll-doubles-in-la\/","title":{"rendered":"Homeless Youth Death Toll Doubles in LA"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Youth homelessness is a growing problem across the United States of America and one that has gone too long overlooked.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2017, Chaplin Hall at the University of Chicago presented one of just a handful of research papers attempting to quantify youth homelessness. The paper, titled “<\/span>Missed Opportunities: Youth Homelessness in America<\/span><\/a>,” concluded that a staggering 1 in 10 American youths had experienced some variation of homelessness. That number equates to 3.5 million individuals aged 18-25. For school-aged children, the statistic was 1 out of 30, which equals 2.5 million more.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike older unhoused people, homeless youths are often hidden. They are the couch suffers, the rooftop chasers, the kids who spend the whole night at the club – not because they really want to party, but because they simply have no place safe to go.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I try to sleep on rooftops,” explained one 18-year-old interviewee who\u00a0<\/span>opened up<\/span><\/a>\u00a0about his homelessness.<\/span><\/p>\n

Erin Casey of the nonprofit organization, My Friend’s Place rightly claims homeless youth are harder to find because they’re offered fewer services.<\/span><\/p>\n

In an interview with<\/span>\u00a0LAist<\/span><\/a>, she solemnly stated:<\/span><\/p>\n

“There has never been a period of time where we’ve experienced just more tragedy of young lives lost.”<\/span><\/p>\n

A Testament To A Troubling Trend<\/h3>\n

Unhoused service providers in the LA area <\/span>are experiencing burnout<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and leaving their jobs in droves. Underpaid and exhausted, the harsh reality of youth death is also taking a toll on them. They used to have to check the sheriff’s website when a homeless youth went missing. Now, they’re more likely to see those names on the coroners’ website.<\/span><\/p>\n

Forcing LA’s Homeless Youth into the Depths of Isolation and Despair<\/h3>\n

The current service system caters to unhoused people based on their perceived level of need. As such, homeless youths have fewer resources available to them because they are deemed less needy than people from older generations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beneath the surface, while few experts like to admit it, they are also perceived as more criminal than people hailing from older generations. This fact presents itself repeatedly in studies and statistics:<\/span><\/p>\n