How Systemic Failures and Rising Homelessness Are Setting Vulnerable Children Up for Lifelong Struggles
When I was in high school, I had friends who were homeless. Back then, I used to think we were alike in the ways we were different. I preferred to keep to myself; I didn’t care for school and skipped class or the whole school day. I preferred loitering in places I wasn’t supposed to be. I didn’t see it then, but now I realize our similarities were less about being “outsiders” and probably more about the fact that we were kids who lived with little structure and stability.
As I became an adult and eventually found more structure and stability, I’d always think fondly of this time of my life – about my strong bonds with my friends.
However, now I realize I might be the only one out of my childhood friends who thought so fondly about this time. One of my friends, Max, hardly ever went to school at all. When he did, he often sat or wandered around campus alone – until I found him, at least. He was often teased by our classmates for having worn-out or dirty clothes and was always behind in his classes—no wonder he didn’t want to be there.
The Harsh Reality for Homeless Kids
While my home life wasn’t perfect, at least I had a home life. When I went home, closed my bedroom door, and put on my earphones to drown out all that was happening around me, Max was sitting shoulder to shoulder with his siblings in a car parked on the curb of a public park. They didn’t have that same hot meal or a warm bed every night.
And now, over a decade later, things have only gotten worse. More kids become homeless every year. Some homeless kids live in cars with their parents and siblings near a toilet in a public park. Some live in the park, on a bench, by themselves. Some are runaways or unaccompanied youth. Some are college-aged young adults who want to go to college.
A Growing Crisis with Long-Term Consequences
What we know for sure is that it’s not getting better. Homeless youth are being left behind. Here in New York City, public school records tell us that 146,000 public school students are homeless. According to Advocates for Children of New York, that’s a whopping 23% increase since last year. These are children who are living in NYC shelters or doubled up in crowded apartments temporarily with family or friends.
Being homeless as a child has life-long consequences. Homeless kids are more likely to be homeless as an adult. Additionally, homeless kids are less likely to graduate from high school, let alone college. This dramatically impacts their future. In 2023, over half of NYC’s homeless students were chronically absent, and 1 in 32 of those students were suspended for it.
Barriers to Support and Legal Rights
While homeless youth do have legal protections through the McKinney-Vento Act, ensuring their legal right to an education, many of them don’t get to access those protections. Many homeless youth choose not to identify as homeless and, therefore, are unable to qualify for help. Many don’t know they have these rights at all.
While homeless youth are sometimes able to access shelter, it is much harder for them to access healthcare, mental health counseling, primary education, higher education, financial aid, and student loans. This is often due to an absent, sometimes also homeless parent who isn’t able to or refuses to help. This puts homeless youth and their caseworkers in a bind—especially when they’re trying to counteract all the harm homelessness has already caused the child.
Max’s Story: A Reflection of Systemic Failure
How can we look at this and not see how that child was ultimately set up for failure? We’ve laid out the most challenging path for our communities’ high-risk and underserved kids. And I know this from personal experience.
When I eventually graduated from high school, Max didn’t. He was still homeless when I moved on to community college. When I transferred to a 4-year college 10,000 miles away, he was still homeless.
Spending so many years living in a car and growing up in that environment impacted his life in ways unimaginable. He always struggled a bit with his mental health, but it became much worse in adulthood. The truth is I don’t know what happened to Max. Eventually, I lost touch with him completely. It’s tough to stay in touch with friends who are homeless. Their phone gets cut off, they don’t have an address, and they don’t have consistent access to the internet. I wasn’t able to find him on social media anymore.
There is a part of me that hopes a miracle happened. But the reality is that miracles are rare. We can’t and should not rely on miracles. Instead, we should make it so miracles aren’t necessary for survival.
Let’s Rewrite the Story for Homeless Youth
Max’s story, and the stories of countless others like him, highlight a system that consistently fails our most vulnerable children. Homeless youth are being asked to climb mountains without any gear, and when they falter, society labels them as failures instead of addressing the systemic barriers that hold them back.
We have the tools to change this. We can advocate for policies that ensure every child has access to stable housing, quality education, healthcare, and the support they need to thrive. We can push for better enforcement of the McKinney-Vento Act and invest in resources that break the cycle of poverty and homelessness.
Max’s life could have been different if the right safety nets had been in place. Imagine if he had access to a stable home, mental health care, and support to stay in school. That’s the kind of future we can create—not just for one child but for all homeless youth.
The fight to end youth homelessness is not just about helping others; it’s about building a society where no one is left behind. We can’t undo the past, but we can demand a future where miracles aren’t needed for kids like Max to succeed.
The time to act is now. Let’s ensure that every child has the opportunity to write their own happy ending. Because when we support homeless youth, we create a stronger, more compassionate future for everyone.
