Homeless youths on the rise (Vermont)

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Spectrum’s 13-bed emergency youth shelter has filled up before, but not like this, say staff; not like in this long, hard year.

In the past year, the organization has housed 119 16- to 22-year olds in its temporary shelter on Pearl Street in Burlington. In that same time, staff turned away 120 more — almost twice as many as the year before.

Mark Redmond, director of Spectrum Youth and Family Services, attributes the bump in homeless youth seeking shelter to the downtown in the economy. Redmond said he expects homelessness to increase as the recession continues and parents lose jobs.

Spectrum’s challenges illustrate a national crisis. A New York Times story published last month cited the number of contacts with runaways made by federally financed outreach programs: 761,000 in 2008, up from 550,000 in 2002.

The National Runaway Switchboard, a hotline for runaway and homeless youth, reported Oct. 28 a 200 percent increase since 2006 in the number of calls from youth as old as 21 who cited the economy as one of the reasons calling.
“These older youth may have been able to get by in the past, but with the scarcity of jobs, it’s possible they are turning to crisis lines like NRS, for help surviving,” Maureen Blaha, NRS’s executive director said in a prepared statement.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20091116/NEWS02/91115013&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL