City agencies to take first homeless youth count

LYNN – A handful of city agencies will come together over the next week to take stock of what many fear is a growing trend: teenage homelessness.”They’re a hidden population,” said Gini Mazman, program director for The Haven Project.Mazman, along with the Lynn Shelter, Lynn Housing Authority, Centerboard and Straight Ahead Ministries, will conduct the first-ever youth count, where they will attempt to count the number of homeless youth in the city, which is anyone homeless and under the age of 25. Mazman founded The Haven Project just a bit over a year ago precisely to work with young adults who for whatever reason find themselves without a home.Each year the Lynn Shelter conducts an annual “point in time” count, where volunteers take a count of the city’s adult homeless population, but it’s never included the young.”They go out between midnight and 3 a.m. and count. But the youth are not sleeping on the streets,” Mazman said, “they’re couch surfing.”Homeless youth rarely show up on the street or in the shelters, preferring instead to crash at a friend’s house or hide out wherever they can find a space, she said.To try and find them, Mazman plans to do a daytime count, hitting up places like the Career Center, Lynn Community Health Center, and places that offer GED classes, “places where they can get services and might be.”They will also conduct a Saturday count and on Thursday, Jan. 16, will open up the first floor of the East Coast International Church on Munroe Street from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. for what is essentially a pizza party. Mazman said any homeless youth are invited to stop by have some pizza, pick up a gift card and some basic supplies in exchange for filling out a brief anonymous survey and being counted.”Everyone deserves to be counted,” Mazman said.And if anyone can’t make the party, they can call Mazman at 978-913-5738, and she will come to them.Lynn is not the only community tackling a youth count. There are 17 Continuum of Care Inc. groups across the commonwealth, not-for-profit agencies that provide residential case management, crisis management and housing support to people in need. Mazman said the state asked each Continuum to conduct a count, which is a big step in itself.Mazman said the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless has been working not only to get services in place for homeless youth but to get the state to recognize that it’s a growing issue. The fact the state agreed to look at the scope of the problem by conducting a count is important, she said.”It’s the first step in acknowledging that this population exists and that they may need some unique services to keep them from becoming homeless adults,” she said.The Youth Count will be conducted January 13-18 with volunteers, including youth ambassadors, who Mazman said are feeling very empowered by the event.