How Homeless Youth Earn Money

HOW THEY EARN MONEY

This is an interesting study out of Canada.   It was aired as part of “The First Edition” by CBC News in 2004.  Despite it being 3 years old, I think the data has changed little over time.   I also think the data would also apply to homeless youth almost anywhere in the world.

 In 1999, the most comprehensive study about how street kids making their money was conducted by the Shout Clinic which offers health care to homeless youth. Among the findings:

· 36%   of street youth earn money by panhandling or squeegeeing
· 19%   do break and enters or sell drugs
· 18%   receive social assistance
· 17%   by have paid employment
· 10%   do sex trade work

Some find legitimate work: Homeless youth had worked at an average of 3.1 legitimate jobs in the previous 12 months mainly in general labour, painting, welding, as bike couriers, cooks, cashiers, telemarketing, in baby sitting and retail sales.

Most have worked in the sex trade: 31% – including men and women – reported engaging in either street prostitution, phone or Internet sex, or massage/stripping at least once in their lives. Agencies like Street Outreach Services (SOS) focus on helping street youth out of prostitution.

Background determines how youth earn money: On average, sex workers left home at a younger age, had been on the street the longest, were most likely to have grown up in at least one foster homes, had the lowest educational credentials and left home because of problems pertaining to both physical and sexual assault.

In contrast, those who did property crimes or sold drugs were predominately male, were likely to have grown up in Toronto and were least likely to have experienced physical or sexual assault at home.

Would they like to work? When asked if they would like to find paid employment, 83.4% of males and 87.8% of females said yes. This indicates that street youth are unhappy about making money the way they do and would like paid employment instead.

Asked more specifically about under what conditions they would find accept a job:

· 53.7%   said they would take any job if paid $20 an hour
· 35.5%   would do just about any job
· 51.8%   felt that any job was better than welfare
· 18.7%   felt they would rather take welfare rather than a job they didn’t like
· 18.%    said they would not mind being unemployed for awhile

Again, these results suggest a majority of street youth want a job, although they were not willing to accept any job offered.

When asked what was preventing them from getting jobs, reasons cited included:

· 45.2 %  no fixed address    
· 43.3%   lack of work experience 
· 44.5%   no phone     
· 40.2%   no money for transportation for job search    
· 34.7%   don’t have the right clothes or appearance   
· 21.3%   legal problems   
· 21.3%   lack of motivation  

· other problems which included waking up and keeping a schedule, health, and literacy problems.

Most young homeless people were optimistic they would find work, with 46.6% very hopeful, and 35.7% somewhat hopeful.

Foster Kids – Many face homelessness (1 in 5)

Many foster youths face a future of homelessness

You don’t usually associate foster kids with homelessness.  They are taken in, right?  They have foster parents to look after them, right?  It’s not like they are abandoned, right?   Well, not right at all.   The following story illustrates the problem when foster kids grow out of foster care.  There is that point, you see, where they no longer warrant payments to their parents for their care.  They age out and get a small payment (or none at all) that is supposed to get them a foothold in life as an adult.  But at 18, they are really still just kids.

By Sara Steffens, MEDIANEWS STAFF
Article Last Updated: 05/06/2007Read the rest of this story hereWhen a foster youth becomes homeless, no one social worker, guardian or child welfare department is to blame. Like most states, California has failed to provide an effective safety net for the more than 4,000 children who age out of its foster care system each year.

In ordinary circumstances, young adults count on continued financial and emotional support from their families and are almost never completely on their own after turning 18. The average parent spends $44,500 on a child after he or she becomes an adult, “and that doesn’t include the kid being still in his room at home,” said Robert Fellmeth, executive director of Children’s Advocacy Institute, based at the University of San Diego School of Law.

By contrast, foster youths get a median of $5,000 in public support after aging out of care. “Most kids don’t get anything,” Fellmeth said. “Most kids get zero. (They get) ‘Hit the streets with your clothes in your trash bag.’”

One study says that at least one in five former foster children becomes homeless within a few years of becoming a legal adult. Other research, using broader criteria for homelessness, sets the figure as high as half. In recent years, a number of programs have begun trying to help better prepare foster children for independence.But public and volunteer services remain fragmented, sporadic and largely symbolic, Fellmeth said. “The problem is scale,” he said. “The problem is (lawmakers) want to feel good and not spend the money.” In the face of tough odds, some former foster youths do manage to finish their education and build productive lives, many with the help of service programs.

Foster kids are out there too

If you are interested in articles on homeless youth, there is a link to the right in the blogroll to all homeless youth articles.  For all my posts click on the Front Page link at the top.