02, Jan 2018 | CJP Team

The Guardian reported that a study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, found that, in the United States, one out of ten young adults aged 18-25 have slept shelters, in the streets, run away, or been thrown out of their homes, or have couch-surfed in the past year. The study, conducted by researchers at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, also found that at least one of 30 adolescents, between the ages of 13-17, suffered some form of homelessness and lacked a parent or guardian in the past year, the Guardian said. The researchers surveyed more than 26,000 young people and their families in the last two years; once extrapolated, the data imply that nationwide, 3.5 million young adults and 660,000 teenagers had suffered homelessness within the last year. According to the Guardian, the report was an attempt at contesting the idea that homelessness largely affects older men; the Guardian reported that the authors noted that “point in time” surveys misjudged the problem, since “young people often shift among temporary circumstances such as living on the streets and couch surfing in unstable locations”. The Guardian noted that the study found certain populations being at a higher risk of homelessness, including those who were black, Hispanic, LGBT, those who did not carry a high school diploma, and those who became parents at a young age. For example, young LGBT people had a 120% higher risk of being homeless. “Many young people are getting hammered in this economy … and far too many youth have experienced trauma and lack stable family situations. You have a major affordable housing crisis,” Matthew Morton of Chapin Hall told the Washington Post.