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Housing Status

The question:

At the hub, when youth are provided the sociodemographic questionnaire the question they receive related to their housing situation is:

Rationale for this question:

• Housing and access to safe and affordable housing is a significant health risk and health equity issue. Young people who face added barriers due to disability, sexuality, and/or race are over-represented in unsafe housing and homelessness within Canada. Twenty per cent of Canada’s homeless population consists of young people between the ages of 13-24.
• Youth are better able to move forward with their lives if they are housed first. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs speaks to the basic principle that if we do not have our basic needs met, such as housing and food, then we cannot expect youth to access and reach other forms of supports and services such as education, employment, programming, community connections, and mental health and addictions etc.
• There is strong evidence which indicates that people without a permanent residence (e.g., couch surfing) are more likely to be in poor health, yet less likely to be able to obtain adequate and appropriate care.
• Homeless folks are at a higher risk of encountering discrimination in the care process ranging from staff attitudes and behaviors, to inequitably differentiated treatment pathways.

Important considerations:

• An intersectional lens and model of care is central when supporting youth with housing concerns and/or at risk of homelessness. Different forms of oppression such as racism, heterosexism, cissexism, and ableism are compounded when looking at housing risks.
• Most of Canada’s young homeless population tend to gravitate to big cities, but often homelessness or housing issues occur in many different communities—it is just less visible.

Responding to youth asking why they are being asked this question:

Knowing a youth’s housing status/living situation allows service providers to make connections to available and appropriate supports in the community, and housing supports at the hub, if that is something the youth is interested in.Written Content