Teenage Homelessness – Minnesota

Out at home: Teenage homelessness on the rise, By Paul Levy, April 19, 2010, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Suddenly, homeless teenagers are all over the Twin Cities — cities and suburbs alike — sleeping in port-a-potties and cars, camping under bridges or riding buses all night. ‘Part of it is the economy, but we’re also doing a better job of identifying who is homeless,’ said Karrie Schaaf, considered a state expert on youth homelessness in the metro area. ‘And now that times are hard economically, they’re coming out of the woodwork.’ Some are children of economically stressed families that have been forced to double up with other families; they simply don’t have room to house older kids, said Schaaf, youth director for the Emma B. Howe Family YMCA in Coon Rapids. Others were evicted from their homes on their 18th birthdays by struggling families facing foreclosure, said Judy Johnson, housing supervisor in Anoka County. In Minnesota, the number of 18- to 21-year-olds in shelters more than doubled in the past three years, rising from 455 in 2006 to 987 last October, the Minnesota Department of Human Services said. In Anoka County, the homeless 18-21 population doubled in the past year alone, according to a January survey…”