While overall homelessness in Boston dropped sharply, and officials are right to cite city and state efforts to help people move into stable housing, the numbers also point to the often-overlooked challenge of hidden homelessness among young adults (“City records lowest homeless count in decade,” Metro, July 4).
The number of unaccompanied youth (up to age 24) experiencing homelessness fell by just two people, to 126. And while the numbers matter, they show only part of the story. The fact that no unsheltered families were identified on the night of the city’s homeless count does not mean that young people are safely housed. For many young adults, homelessness often looks like couch-surfing, doubling up, or staying in unsafe situations while trying to keep up with school or work without a stable place to sleep.
Less than a year after the Breaktime Hub opened in downtown Boston to support young adults experiencing homelessness, more than 400 young people have made their way there for Breaktime’s economic mobility model and wraparound services (case management, laundry, clothing, shower, health services, etc). That is more than three times the number of unaccompanied youth captured in the city’s homeless census.
Boston should celebrate progress. But ending young adult homelessness requires better understanding of what the numbers do not fully capture so that we can reach young people sooner, before housing instability becomes chronic homelessness.
Connor Schoen
Cofounder and CEO
Breaktime
Boston