Lewis Aptekar: Ways to Help Ending Youth Homelessness


To end homelessness, youth and young adults need stable housing, supportive access to caring adults, and access to mainstream services that will place them on a path to long-term success, explains Dr. Lewis Aptekar. In addition, according to Dr.Lewis Aptekar, reunifying youth with family or a support system, when safe and appropriate, should be at the core of any approach to ending homelessness.

Young adults may also require broader education and employment supports, and may need more short and long-term housing options, including rapid re-housing.

To end homelessness for youth, we must:
  • Prioritize family reunification or support as the initial intervention for youth experiencing homelessness. Most youth return home to family, and programs interacting with youth can facilitate that process when safe and appropriate. Basic programs already prioritize this, but other youth-serving programs and coordinated entry systems should also adopt it as an initial focus. Family intervention could also be done earlier to avoid a youth separating from their family altogether, recommends Dr. Lewis Aptekar

  • Improve the crisis response to serve both youth and young adults. A larger investment is needed from federal, state, and local governments to prevent youth from sleeping on the streets and to more quickly facilitate their reunification with family when possible. Communities should also consider alternative models to house youth in crisis so that no young person remains unsheltered, such as flexible shelter or a host home.

  •  Expand the reach and effectiveness of housing programs for homeless youth. More needs to be done to provide youth with short and long-term housing options when reunification with family is not possible. Rapid re-housing is being effectively tailored for youth around the country and available transitional housing and permanent supportive housing programs should be prioritized only to the most vulnerable youth who have demonstrated a need for the most intensive interventions to successfully exit homelessness.

  • Develop an effective systemic response. Youth and young adults that are experiencing homelessness are not served through a single, coordinated system. Instead, collaboration across federal, state and local partners is crucial to providing a coordinated community response and the full range of solutions youth require.
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