Lack of Affordable Housing Leads to Youth Homelessness

In the United States, where the shortage is severe, the number of people facing homelessness has risen every year for the past five years. Unsheltered homelessness is driving the overall increase, according to the “State of the Nation’s Housing Report” by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness, in its most recent “State of Homelessness” report, indicates that 6 million U.S. households spent more than 50% of their income on rent (the formula for affordability is not more than 30% for rent and utilities) and 3.8 million “doubled up” (i.e., lived with family or friends) in 2021. “Over the last decade, the nation hasn’t made any real progress in reducing the number of Americans who are at risk of homelessness,” the report says.

Young people who leave, are removed from, or are thrown out of their family homes face enormous housing challenges. Those who age out of foster care without adult support are “thrown into the deep end” of the adult swimming pool, expected to arrange stable, affordable housing from one day to the next. However, many are ill-prepared to find and hold a job that can cover their housing and related costs. They may also be dealing with the traumatic events surrounding their homelessness. What's more, not only are LGBTQ+ youth 120% more likely to be homeless, they have a harder time accessing safe housing at every point along the housing continuum, from shelter to permanent housing.

In Canada, while the national government is supporting a 10-year, $70 billion housing strategy, the country is in a “long-standing housing crisis.”

Former U.N. special rapporteur on the right to housing, Leilani Farha, told a House of Commons committee in May 2021 that in Canada,“1.7 million households are in core housing need, and 235,000 people are living in homelessness. New homeless encampments are springing up in every city, big and small. More than 250,000 rental households are in arrears and are now at risk of eviction from their homes.”

In addition, housing prices in Canada have increased 168% over the past two decades, more than in any of the other 36 countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Farha said, citing a report by the OECD.

In Central America, governments have lacked the ability or drive to provide affordable housing for large swathes of their populations. According to research at INCAE Business School, a Central American institution, at least 7.5 million Central Americans live in informal settlements, or slums, a number that is rising. In Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, there is a housing shortage of a million homes in each country. Poverty, inequality, and the lack of opportunity are among the factors that prompt Central American youth and adults to leave their homes and join the migrant trail.

The housing shortage in Mexico translates to millions of citizens living in small, tight spaces in dwellings made of poor materials such as cardboard and reeds. According to a 2016 report of the Center for Housing Research and Documentation and the Federal Mortgage Society, about 34 million Mexicans live more than two people to a room in such homes. “A large number of people living in small spaces can lead to academic failure, child abuse, stress, tension and depression,” notes a 2018 article in El Pais.