Mental Health

Chelsea Minhas, MSW, RSW

Reprinted from the Housing as a Human Right issue of Visions Journal, 2022, 17 (2), pp. 20-21

Because of my work with Covenant House Vancouver, I am often asked how young people end up on the street. This is a complex question, but there are some general pathways to homelessness that I have seen in my time working with this population. Some young people are kicked out by their families. Some have grown up in the foster care system and have no one to turn to when they age out. Some experience mental health challenges that are diagnosed or not, and some experience such dysfunction and abuse that fleeing to the streets seems like a safer option.

One thing I know for sure is that the streets are a dangerous place to live. Youth living on the streets are exposed to increased victimization and exploitation by peers and strangers, mental health challenges, substance use, incomplete education and suicide. Many have high levels of distrust of authorities, social service providers, police and adults in general. When youth walk into Covenant House, they may be meeting a trusted adult for the first time in their lives.

Due to historical and reoccurring experiences of trauma, some youth have cognitive impairments that further impact their experiences. These young people are left to navigate complex care systems without the support of healthy adults. Young people also face increased challenges as they attempt to transition from youth to adult services. It is at these critical transition points that youth often fall through the cracks.

Part of what drew me to working with young people is that I had seen this happen. My parents were Foster Parents. I witnessed my mother tirelessly advocating for young people past the age of 19 because care systems would abandon youth at that age. I also watched my parents struggle with the impacts of unresolved intergenerational trauma. As I got older, I often thought about how my parents’ experience could have been different had they been offered more resources and safe housing. I learned at a young age that changes needed to happen. I wanted to be a part of that change.  

I joined Covenant House 15 years ago as a youth worker. Back then, it was just one building that supported youth experiencing homelessness in Vancouver. Over the years, the Covenant House continuum has expanded to three buildings with drop-in and street outreach, a Crisis Shelter program, Rights of Passage Transitional Housing Program and individualized case management and clinical supports. My role has also grown—from youth worker to social worker, then from program manager to my current role. Alongside my work, I have also added the role of mother to two young children.

At home, I try to create a safe space for my children to share their concerns, worries and fears. I see youth workers, social workers and counsellors doing the same at Covenant House. As youth begin to know us, they share their experiences, proving again and again that homelessness is the least interesting thing about them. They have goals, thoughts on world issues and stories about what they’ve encountered and experienced before coming through our doors. They have pain and trauma, but also resilience and hope.

It is important to note that Canada has signed on to international treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, that state our collective belief that housing is a right. This commitment comes with certain obligations and criteria, including that housing must be safe, affordable, culturally sensitive and designed with involvement from those with lived experience.

For youth, safety and support are central to housing needs. If a person’s history has led them to determine that living on the street is safer than under a roof, whatever housing solution is on offer must challenge this perspective through action. Safe housing for youth should also:

• address core vulnerabilities and challenges that push youth into unsafe environments
• include youth voices and choices
• be developmentally appropriate and trauma-informed
• include culturally relevant services that are shaped by and meet the needs of Indigenous youth, who are overrepresented in the homeless youth population
• embrace principals of harm reduction
• form a comprehensive continuum, ranging from supportive housing staffed 24/7 to independent market housing

Unfortunately, the human right to housing currently remains aspirational for youth and the staff and allies who support them. Youth often get frozen out of a housing market that discriminates against young people without family wealth or a wide support network.

In my own practice I’ve found that a comprehensive approach to case management works best. We need to meet young people where they are at, stay engaged with service providers and gather resources to address a wide range of needs, like employment readiness, education and life skills, so youth are set up for sustainable and successful futures. I have seen first-hand how this approach can help young people move from the streets to, for example, post-secondary education. When you walk into a medical clinic 10 years from now, it is very possible that your family doctor will have once been a homeless youth.

Just as I often think about how I can reduce the vulnerability of my own children, daily I reflect on how to reduce vulnerability in our communities. How can we reduce youth homelessness from a systems perspective? How do we follow a prevention model while also providing adequate supports for those youth who need it? How can I do this for my children and children whose parents can’t?

These are the questions that keep me up at night. But being a part of responsive and innovative programming that contributes to ending youth homelessness motivates me to keeping showing up for these young people every day.