At the Intersection of Disability & Youth Homelessness
In attempting to bring some much-needed attention to the intersections of youth homelessness and disability, there is a surprising lack of research or information available on the subject. However, as those who work in direct services with youth have often witnessed, there are significant numbers of young people who endure the double-impact of housing instability or homelessness as well as living with a disability. When these experiences converge, there are potentially devastating effects that can ultimately affect a youth’s safety, physical and mental health, and ability to navigate their way out of homelessness. Concepts of the body as public and not personal such as bodily integrity and autonomy as well as self-determination and empowerment are central to this complex set of issues.
A common barrier in obtaining accurate statistics on the prevalence of both housing and disability status is that there are so many different definitions of “homelessness” and “disability” from the federal level as well as the local level. The inconsistency in definitions adds to a disjointed continuum of care and eligibility for such programs or benefits. Currently AB 67, introduced by Assembly member Luz Rivas, aims to push for a single definition of homelessness as well as “at-risk for homelessness” in order to streamline eligibility and program coordination for those who may currently fall through the eligibility cracks due to language used by organizations in their grants that are tied to their funding sources.
Some important issues to consider when looking at the intersection of youth, homelessness and disability:
-- Criminalization of poverty & homelessness
-- Criminalization of neurodivergent behavior
-- Responses and resistance to homelessness and trauma seen as “delinquent”
-- Exclusion of people with disabilities from public life
-- Exclusion of people experiencing homelessness from public life
-- Insufficient rights for minors
-- Insufficient rights for people with diagnoses involving measures of cognitive or intellectual functioning
-- Insufficient rights for people surviving on the street
-- Invisible disabilities exist and are often left out of the conversation
These all present complex issues in their own right, but when combined create a very limited world for folks to have agency over their own lives. The structural inequalities that allow for the aforementioned issues also negatively impact quality of life for people with disabilities by creating barriers to quality healthcare, inclusive and supported education, employment that pays a living wage, financial security, and accessible and supportive housing. These are the same forces that impact those experiencing homelessness, those who come from intergenerational poverty or have been separated from their family support system.
Of the statistics we identified on educational disparities, students were counted in separate categories, so it should be assumed that these numbers are exponentially impacted by a combination of these marginalizations. If a child is interacting with the educational system and experiencing homelessness as well as living with a disability, there is a high probability they will face inequity in the area of school discipline- and if they happen to be a student of color, the disparity increases even more. Education Leads Home puts graduation rates for students experiencing homelessness at only 64% as compared to 84% for their housed peers, while Cornell University’s online resource Disability Statistics shows that in 2017, a staggering 19% of U.S. K-12 students with a diagnosed disability had an educational level of less than a high school diploma; as compared with non-disabled peers of which only 9% have less than a high school diploma. In fact, in California alone, the rate of students with a disability with less than a high school diploma is even higher at 23%. As CHYP’s research on the school-to-prison pipeline has confirmed, the disproportionality of school suspension rates are similar for both populations:
“Students experiencing homelessness had one of the highest rates of suspension in California (6%), behind students with disabilities (7%) and foster youth (15%).”
While financial security and gainful employment has been difficult for most Americans over the last few decades, even with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, there are many ways in which those with disabilities are not able to earn a living wage. According to Disability Statistics:
-- People with disabilities are only 37% employed compared to 79% for non-disabled peers (regardless of race/gender/education
-- Have a median annual household income of $45,500 compared to $71,000 for non-disabled peers
-- Live at 26% below the poverty line compared to 10% of non-disabled peers
Without equitable experiences in formative education or acquiring necessary job skills to work for a living wage, the probability of experiencing housing insecurity or homelessness is high- but what about life on the street? Isn’t it dangerous for youth and even more dangerous for someone with a disability? Well, according to statistics, yes and unfortunately to a shocking degree:
70% of homeless youth report experiencing some form of violence of which 32% includes sexual assault, while only 3% of sexual abuse cases are ever reported involving people with developmental disabilities (DD), up to 83% of female and 32% of males with DD had experienced sexual assault with 49% of those experiencing 10 or more abusive incidents. What’s more, a lifetime risk for violent victimization was 97% for women experiencing a combination of homelessness and severe and pervasive mental illness (SPMI)- considered a disability, especially when chronic homelessness is a symptom- making sexual violence a normative experience in their life.
These statistics help us to see that each part of the intersection of youth, homelessness, and disability is an extremely vulnerable element in its own right, but when combined creates a situation of emergency for the community to get this population into stable housing with all the supportive services they deserve. With promising developments in community responses to youth homelessness including rapid rehousing, host homes, college campus shelter options and integrated service provision and case management, folks with disabilities need to be considered in these efforts to make sure there are accessible housing options and case managers and service providers that develop competence in connecting youth with disabilities to services specific to their needs.
