Services for runaway, homeless youth in Minnesota threatened
Photo by Kay, from the "Consider Our Stories True" exhibit at the State Capitol. The exhibit was organized by the Kulture Klub Collaborative, a non-profit arts organization that brings together artists and homeless teenagers.
Over the past two years, funding for the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act supported shelters, drop-in centers, community outreach, and supportive, transitional housing for runaway and homeless youth. Social service agencies received $1 million in one-time funding under the Act for the 2008-2009 biennium. Now the money is set to run out.Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, and Rep. Jeff Hayden, DFL-Minneapolis, introduced legislation this session that would appropriate $8 million in renewable funding. Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s budget proposal does not include any funding for the Act.
Advocates for homeless youth say that without this funding, agencies will have to scale back already meager services, forcing more youth onto the streets.
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“This is not the time to sack the most vulnerable people in the state,” Susan Phillips of Lutheran Social Services’ Metro Homeless Youth Programs, said.
As many as 1,800 youth are homeless every night in Minnesota, but there are fewer than 50 beds designated for homeless youth in the Twin Cities. Most towns in Greater Minnesota have no substantial homeless youth programs, leading many rural youth to move to the Twin Cities, where they are particularly vulnerable, advocates said.
Dibble said he doubts that the legislature will appropriate the full amount or add additional money to the base in the middle of a fiscal crisis. “That’s the reality of the meanness of the budget that we’re dealing with,” he said. “It took ten years to get to this spot, after millions of dollars of tax breaks for the wealthy.”
In the meantime, the Department of Human Services and state legislators have been looking closely at federal stimulus dollars to determine if a portion can be used for runaway and homeless youth services, Dibble said.
The Bridge for Runaway Youth, a non-profit agency that provides housing and resources for youth in crisis, already faces downsizing due to lack of funding. Without new funding, the agency may have to cut the number of subsidized apartments for homeless youth, the Bridge’s Merci Rocha said.
Heather Huseby, executive director of YouthLink, a social service agency serving homeless youth, said the organization “may need to look at reducing our hours and not meeting as many youth needs.”
According to Rocha, the House Housing Finance Committee's omnibus bill included $238,000 in base funding for the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act for FY2010/2011 and $357,000 in base funding for FY2012/2013.
Advocates face opposition from lawmakers determined to avoid new expenses in the middle of a budget crisis. Some legislators have also voiced concerns about whether homeless youth services are the best way to help runaway youth. In a recent hearing, Rep. Dan Severson, R-Sauk Rapids, said that youth shelters could provide a “pressure vent” that allows teenagers to escape resolvable conflicts with their parents.
Advocates disagree vehemently. “This is not about, ‘I got into a fight with my mom about going to the mall, so I ran away,’” Rocha said.
A 2006 Wilder Foundation study found that 63 percent of homeless youth cannot live with their families because of severe conflict or abuse. Over 70 percent of homeless youth come from an out-of-home placement, including group homes, foster care or corrections. Seven percent have been kicked out due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Grace Forsberg said she does not even want to think about where she would be without the services she received from Avenues for Homeless Youth, a Minneapolis-based social services agency. Forsberg, 19, ran away from home due to family violence. “I was scared all the time,” she said. “It was very hard for me to even focus on school. It was terrible.”
After she left home, Forsberg stayed with a local pastor, who referred her to Avenues for Homeless Youth. She stayed in the shelter program for eight months before moving into transitional housing last September. Now she spends her time looking for a job and taking classes in office administration. In the fall, she hopes to enroll at MCTC. “I am very blessed,” she said, but added that she worries about how other homeless youth will cope with fewer resources.
“When an adult thinks about the homeless, they don’t think it’s possible that it could start with a young person,” Forsberg said. “But it happens all the time.”
Madeleine Baran is a freelance journalist, specializing in labor and poverty issues. Her articles have appeared in The New York Daily News, Dollars & Sense, Clamor, The New Standard, and other publications.
Madeleine Baran is a freelance journalist specializing in labor and poverty issues. Her articles have appeared in The New York Daily News, Dollars & Sense, Clamor, The New Standard, and other p
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Comments
God bless
homeless youth
Where's God?
These stories are so sad. They bring tears to my eyes. I didn't know that it happens so often. I go to MCTC and it's homeless and hunger week. It puts a knotch in my stomach. I didn't know that there were students in those situations. I don't have much to help as I'm struggling myself, I can pray at the most and give snacks sometimes when I pass by someone in need. I cannot even imagine not having a warm shelter and food to eat. I'm so sorry for anyone going through this, especially during the winter time.
Thank you for your article.
Your article is informative. The youths are our future and to many are homeless. I believe that 1,800 youth, homeless is probably a very low number. Something different, and unusual must be developed to serve these people. First, instead of thinking of them as youth, which is a misnomer. We need to think of them as independent adults. The Star Tribune's article about Alzheimer's stated it could be a problem with the elderly part of our population, soon. Maybe we could ask a homeless independent adults between 16-21 to live and care for an elderly adult. Contracts with specific requirements would be needed, between homeless independent adult and elderly adult. Churches and Civic organizations would have to help in training the homeless independent adult and continue to act as mentors. Take what you can use and leave the rest from my comment. God Bless and Thank you
homeless and pregnant
i was 14 when i was raped by a friend of my mothers. when i told her what had happened. she called me terrible names and said it was my fault that it happened. 3 months later i found out i was pregnant and she put me out of the house. with no other family to turned to i was forced to survive on the streets on my own and eventually dropped out of school. A few months later i gave birth to my beautiful baby girl. concerned about the life of my child and also my safety some friends i'd been couch hoping with told me about a place called youth link. From that moment forward life started finally looking up for me and my daughter. Youth link helped me get my life back. I enrolled in the GED program there and recieved my certificate. Now i am enrolled at brown college in brooklyn center as a criminal justice major. my daughter and i now live in a one bedroom apartment in st. louis park. My dream is to work with homeless youth and help them achieve there goals and dreams as youth link has helped me.
A few years earlier i would have never imagined being in the position i am now. especially not on my own.
thats why i thank god for places like youth link
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