Young, Unhoused and Unseen WHYY

Philadelphia is gearing up to bolster services for its unhoused youth following an $8.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2022. Guided by a community plan created for youth by youth, there is optimism the roadmap might lead to a dramatic reduction in youth homelessness. We speak to Michelle, one of the plan’s co-authors, and explore how counting the city’s homeless population remains a challenge.

About one in three unhoused young adults In Philadelphia are pregnant or parenting. On a warm fall day in LOVE Park, we follow a SELF Incorporated outreach worker as he speaks with three homeless young women in their early twenties as their young children play beside them. The goal is to get them shelter and services, but experts say they face another hurdle — networked poverty. With wages failing to keep pace with the rising cost of housing, homeless young parents are in dire need of even more support services.

In this episode, we speak with Mecca Robinson, founder of Forget Me Knot Children & Youth Services, and her residents about the intersection of homelessness and foster care.

In this episode, we talk to the founder of the Ark of Safety and a couple of young residents as they wade through old trauma in an attempt to create an accepting environment.

While the four collar counties of Philadelphia — Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery — may be viewed as idyllic pockets of wealth, the Pennsylvania suburbs are experiencing an uptick in unsheltered youth. Homelessness is driven by a worsening housing affordability crisis. From the Schuylkill River Trail in Pottstown to the Breaking Bread Community Shelter in Upper Darby, we journey across the suburbs, examining the biggest obstacles and possible solutions to addressing youth homelessness in the Greater Philadelphia region and beyond.

Teens in group homes, moms in shelters, and LGBTQ youth sleeping on streets: These are some of the faces of young people experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia. The city is putting roughly $8 million toward ending the problem.

“Young, Unhoused and Unseen” examines youth homelessness in Philadelphia and solutions to end it.