November marks National Homeless Awareness Month. Since 2007, it’s also been National Youth Homelessness Awareness Month after resolutions recognizing the issue passed the House of Representatives and the Senate. During the month, outdoor conditions start becoming inhospitable for people experiencing homelessness, especially youth. We want to take a moment to reflect on homelessness and youth homelessness as the year comes to a close.
Homelessness
The National Alliance to End Homeless reports that nationwide Point in Time counts found 653,104 people experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2024, a more than 12 percent increase from 2023. More than half were unsheltered. People experiencing homelessness risk health effects, mental/behavioral health effects, and violence and exploitation. They live an estimated 30 years less than their housed peers.
Last year, we served 3320 people experiencing homelessness and imminent risk of homelessness, a 33 percent increase from the year before. They included:
- 2025 Black/African American People
- 1,062 People with at Least One Chronic Health Condition
- 468 Domestic Violence Survivors
- 432 Latina/o/x People
- 227 Chronically Homeless People
People experiencing homelessness in our communities have access to our full range of Emergency, Family and Youth, Interim Housing, Transitional Housing, and Supportive Housing services and wraparound care. We believe that everyone deserves a home, and 83 percent of clients leaving our programs move into stable housing destination.
Youth Homelessness
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) describes how 2.5 million youth experience homelessness each year. The effects of living in places not meant for human habitation and/or doubled up with friends or family cannot be overstated. Homeless youth are susceptible to the wide range of illnesses and injuries caused by homelessness and attendant sleep deprivation, poor nutrition, exposure, and environmental toxins. Living in survival mode, they face trauma from “substance abuse, early parenthood, impulsivity, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and a vulnerability to being trafficked.” The National Alliance to End Homelessness summarizes lifelong effects including “emotional and behavioral problems,” “serious health problems,” “experience separations from their families,” and “more school mobility,” “repeat[ing] a grade,” “be[ing] expelled,” “drop[ping] out of school,” and/or “lower academic performance.”
Sadly, we’re seeing a growing number of children and youth experiencing homelessness in our communities and programs. In FY2024, we served 1216 children aged 0-17 (37 percent of our clients) and 181 transition-aged youth from 18-24 (5 percent of our clients). While only a fraction of our clients, the latter include difficult to serve groups including:
- Youth aged out of foster care
- Pregnant and parenting youth
- LGBTQ+ youth
- Domestic violence/abuse survivors
BEDS participates in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD’s) Emerging Adults program which offers combined transitional housing and rapid rehousing for transition aged youth. You can support the by adopting a transition-aged youth or young family for the holidays here.
This November, we hope you're more aware of homeless and youth homelessness in our country and communities—and of the ways that you can help.