The city of Orlando lit up green Wednesday night in observance of youth homelessness.
At the Hilton Lake Buena Vista, District 6 Commissioner Bakari Burns read a statement from Mayor Buddy Dyer proclaiming November to be officially known in the city as Homeless Youth Awareness Month.
Hundreds of homelessness organizations from across the state had gathered there for the Florida Coalition to End Homelessness’ annual conference in Orlando.
“In Central Florida, more than 1,500 young adults, ages 18 to 24, sought assistance from the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida and its partners over the past year,” Burns said. “With local public schools reporting an additional 427 homeless and unaccompanied students ages 16 and older, underscoring the urgency of providing stable housing and support for our youth.”
Earlier this year, the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida received an $8 million federal grant to address a sharp increase in the state’s youth homelessness numbers.
According to the organization, Florida has the steepest rise of youth homelessness in the U.S. Some of the socio-economic causes for this are generational poverty, foster care cases, young adults working for low wages to afford high cost of living, and a lack of support for young LGBTQ+ individuals.
With those funds, the HSNCFL launched their Brighter Days initiative, a local youth-led organization mobilizing statewide efforts to serve this vulnerable population.
Youth Project Director Aja Hunter said they were able to house 68 local youth this year alone and are currently working with around 90 more young people who are matched with case managers and on their path to stable housing.
Hunter said the work is far from done, but the group is up to the task.
“We know that there are more to come. And I think that's a testament that our system is active. It is alive. It is not perfect, but we are doing what we set out to do, which is providing safe housing options to youth and young adults,” she said.
Stressing the urgency for this work, Hunter said the group had a loss this year — a young person who died recently while still unhoused.
“There's a process, and housing isn't always overnight, but I think it makes us all be aware that we all have a role to play while a young person is waiting for housing, and how important and crucial it is for us to rally around young people as they're waiting for tangible, right-now options to them,” she said.
Lillian Hernández Caraballo is a Report for America corps member.
