Preventing Youth Homelessness in Highly Marginalized Populations
This new report presents findings from a collaborative research project by Youth and Allies Against homelessness (YAAH) at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and Covenant House International (CHI).
The project was designed to deepen understanding of the causes of youth homelessness and identify prevention strategies for highly marginalized youth who are both overrepresented in homelessness and underrepresented in research and policy discussions. The study focused on five populations that are disproportionately represented in the population of youth experiencing homelessness.
These groups experience unique, intersecting challenges that increase their risk of housing instability and necessitate tailored, intentional homelessness prevention strategies. Understanding their experiences is critical to creating equitable and effective solutions. To this end, the current research project was informed by the following research questions:
- What is known regarding the primary prevention of homelessness in our focal youth populations in peer-reviewed and gray literature?
- Based on their lived expertise, what do Covenant House (CH) clients who are members of the focal youth populations perceive as the primary causes of homelessness for their peers?
- Based on their lived expertise, what do CH clients who are members of the focal youth populations perceive as the preferred approaches to primary prevention of homelessness (i.e., prevention of a first experience of homelessness) for their peers?
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