Voices from the Street: A Survey of Homeless Youth by Their Peers
Nell Bernstein and Lisa K. Foster (CRB-08-004, March, 2008)
Homeless youth are a hidden population. To shed light on this group of vulnerable young people, CRB conducted a survey in which homeless and formerly homeless youth completed over 200 interviews with their homeless peers across the state. The youth interviewed describe their experiences – how they became homeless, what life on the street is like, their interactions with police, their education and aspirations, their mental health experiences, how they go about getting help – the services they need, and the changes they would like to see happen in policy or law. The majority come from the hardest-to-reach and least-studied homeless populations: youth who sleep on the streets or in cars, squat in abandoned buildings, or "couch-surf." Most left their families because of violence or abuse or were kicked out, and many are surviving on the streets in the neighborhoods in which they grew up. This report presents the survey responses and findings. It is a primary component of the California Homeless Youth Project, a major research and policy initiative undertaken by the CRB and California Council on Youth Relations, with support from The California Wellness Foundation, to bring attention to the serious issues facing homeless youth in the state.
PDF version (13MB) is available online.
For this and other online California Research Bureau reports, please visit the California Research Bureau page on the California State Library website.