Making it count for homeless youth

LYNN – Chris Russell scanned the dining room at My Brother’s Table Sunday, looking for youth and young adults who need a place to live. To find a homeless young man, Russell, 24, didn’t have to look hard; he only had to look in the mirror.”I know what it’s like to be homeless,” Russell said, explaining he was currently staying on a friend’s couch. “I want to get a place eventually, and I want to help others who might be in the same situation as me.”Each year, the Lynn Shelter Association and similar organizations across the country conduct a one-night “point-in-time” count to measure the city’s homeless population. Street Outreach Worker Pat Byrne said the annual count, which he has participated in for nine years, counts the number of adults whom are “housing unstable” – a catch-all designation that includes people living in abandoned buildings or on the streets as well as those living in transitional housing or shelters. The count is the basis for federal funding for programs that address homelessness and also helps identify trends concerning homelessness.Byrne said veterans returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan currently represent the demographic with the largest recent growth in homelessness. But a new demographic is catching up.”As we disengage (from the wars), the number of homeless youth will easily lap it,” Byrne said of the population of homeless veterans. “Social services are becoming aware of that (youth) growth and are reacting to it. But, like many issues, unfortunately when the system reacts to the problem, the problem is firmly ensconced in society.”For the second year in a row, the annual count includes a five-day effort to identity and survey homeless youth and young adults – identified as under the age of 25 who do not have a reliable and/or permanent place to live – in Lynn and across the state.To document this population, outreach workers and volunteers from organizations including Straight Ahead Ministries; Lynn Housing Authority & Neighborhood Development; the Haven Project, a nonprofit that works with local homeless youth; Centerboard; and the Lynn Shelter Association will spend the next few days visiting My Brother’s Table at meal times, walking local streets, and visiting service providers that are used by homeless youth. All survey respondents will be given a $5 Dunkin’ Donuts gift card.Last year, the count recorded 117 homeless persons in Lynn younger than 25, according to a summary report. But officials said this population is notoriously difficult to find.”One of the biggest challenges to youth homelessness is that they don’t recognize they are homeless,” explained Karen Byron, a grant writer for Lynn Housing Authority & Neighborhood Development. “They say, ?my buddy is going to let me stay on their couch for a few days,’ then they will stay somewhere for awhile and move on. That negates the definition of homelessness for them, but for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the state, that is homelessness.”The survey asks respondents whether on Jan. 28, and in the past year they will stay or have stayed in a rented or owned home with an immediate family member, a friend, a foster parent, and/or partner. Respondents are also asked, for example, whether they have stayed in a motel paid for by a government-funded organization, on the street, in a car, or in a hallway, etc.The survey questions also allude to the many factors that can lead to youth homelessness.Possible explanations of why youth are not living with a parent or guardian include fighting with parents, being released from foster care and/or jail or a detention facility, sexual orientation, violence and/or substance abuse in the home, and/or a guardian who is homeless, and simply because of a lack of space in the home. Respondents are asked to check all that apply.Russell understands many of these issues. He said he has been homeless since age 19 when his mother moved to a smaller, subsidized apartment where only s