Counting our homeless youth
Volunteers hit the streets in an attempt to count displaced young adults in Connecticut
NORWALK — By Tuesday, Andre McCrae had developed a strategy: start with large groups, then work his way to smaller ones.
It was a little after 2 p.m. and McCrae had just arrived at the Norwalk Community College West Campus Cafeteria, where he was ending a week of surveying young adults as part of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness’s annual Youth Count, which quantifies the problem of youth homelessness in the state.
“You never know, some people share their story, some don’t,” McCrae said, preparing his materials (a smart phone app, resource sheet and gift cards to incentivize participation) before he began approaching stu
dents. “Some are timid, some are like open books, sometimes. Trust comes into play. Some kids are not as comfortable telling you their story — telling you something that might make you judge them.”
McCrae, a 27-year-old security guard, volunteered daily from Jan. 22 through 28, visiting parks, movie theaters, train stations and the community college and asking young people to complete a survey that takes roughly five minutes. Numbers derived from the count — which is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — help to gauge the pervasiveness of youth homelessness in Connecticut and, in turn, qualify the state for federal funding to address the issue, which, by the 2019 count, affected 305 families with more than 580 children.
The issue is personal for McCrae, who was homeless for stretches between the ages of 10 and 16. So he decided, along with 315 others statewide, to volunteer for the count.
“I just wanted to help out, just make a difference,” McCrae said. “I’ve seen so many things, done so many things that probably kids shouldn’t have done. I want to see to it that kids get help because it messes you up, moving from house to house.”
The week-long Youth Count occurs in conjunction with the annual Point-in-Time Count, a census taken one night each January to determine the homeless population statewide, which began in 2007. Both counts are organized by the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, which then coordinates through local captains who train and schedule a team of volunteers. Results to both will be published in May. This year, on the night of Jan. 22, the more-than 600 volunteers involved in the Point-in-Time Count traveled block-to-block in Connecticut’s cities, surveying whomever they meet.
In 2015, in response to a growing understanding that many youth were missed in the Pointin-Time Count, the separate Youth Count was established to better quantify a problem that often goes unseen, either because youth usually couch-surf and may be considered housing unstable, as opposed to literally homeless, or simply don’t have access to, or aren’t aware of, resources. The stigma of being homeless may also prevent at-risk young adults from seeking help.
“A few years ago, we realized that we weren’t capturing the data on youth homelessness, that they were somehow slipping under the radar,” said Madeline Ravich, development adviser for the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness.
Causes of youth homelessness vary, but are often related to family dysfunction, substance abuse, mental health issues or financial hardship. Institutionalized young adults, who have spent time either in the criminal justice or child welfare system, are also more at risk of homelessness or housing insecurity, as are members of the LGBTQ community and youth of color.
While not confined to any one area, concentrations of urban teens generally form in urban centers, where there is more access to resources, transportation and cheap housing. For the Youth Count, surveys were conducted by volunteers in all of Connecticut’s largest cities, including Norwalk, Stamford and Bridgeport in Fairfield County.
“It’s not like with adult homeless individuals, where it’s in your face as much,” said Amber Hunter, a case manager at the Connection Inc. “Youth are known, unfortunately, for keeping it to themselves, even among their peers. That’s why we try to make the survey as private as possible. It’s done on the phone. They don’t have to answer anything they don’t want to. They’re not forced to give out any information they don’t feel like they want to give out.”
For the Youth Count, hot-spots where youth congregate are identified and volunteers are sent to various locations, where they engage the youth they see and offer gift cards to Wendy’s and McDonald’s. Most who are surveyed have never experienced homelessness or housing instability. But through a series of questions on the app, data is collected that is used to determine, among other things, the causes and circumstances, duration and prevalence of youth homeless and housing instability.
According to Hunter, a case manager at the Connection Inc., and Hannah Smith, a case manager at Alpha Community Services YMCA, both of whom were accompanying McCrae in Norwalk on Tuesday, those hot-spots could include schools, libraries, corner stores or transportation centers.
“We even got permission to park our homeless outreach van in front of a motel in Bridgeport,” Smith said.
Hunter and Smith, like McCrae, had also developed certain strategies for getting the youth they approach to participate. Hunter said she, too, tries to engage groups. She reads body language and avoids students who look unwilling to talk. If she’s met with hesitance, she doesn’t push the issue.
“I don’t take offense to it,” Hunter said. “You definitely have the kids who see you, they know you’re coming up and they put their head down and walk faster.”
Hunter and Smith moved around the cafeteria together, stopping at several large groups of students and greeting them with a bag of candy and the gift cards — to Wendy’s and McDonald’s — which they said are a useful tool to draw out youth that might otherwise decline.
“Anything they don’t want to answer they don’t have to answer, or they can skip the question,” Hunter said. “We’re not here to place any kind of judgment, we’re just here to provide support.”
McCrae, meanwhile, was camped out a table surrounded by a group of four students, each of whom had agreed to participate in the survey. Other students, either curious about the activity, or about the gift cards, began dropping in and the crowd swelled to seven.
According to Hunter and Smith, the success of the count locally is dependent on the participation of volunteers who are familiar with the community. This was the unique strength of McCrae, both at Norwalk Community College and in the various parks and downtown streets he canvassed the prior week. In many cases, he knew the places, the people and could empathize with their experiences.
“I grew up here. So they’ve seen my face before,” McCrae said. “I was homeless once. I know where they’re coming from.”