Photo credit: CTV News
Toronto’s youth cabinet and a coalition of youth homelessness organizations are calling for a youth-first strategy to break cycles of poverty and prevent youth homelessness across the city.
CTV News reports that in a summit that took place Monday at City Hall, over 100 young people and dozens of organizations came together to discuss solutions, make recommendations, and share experiences.
Michael Zarathus-Cook who was experienced homelessness at 17 and stayed at Covenant House, Toronto’s youth homeless shelter said, “Staying at the shelter for those 18 months was incredibly important for me to just get my bearings. I was in school at the time.”
Another part of Monday’s summit involved consulting with youth and tapping into their experiences to problem solve.
This summer, the city’s Street Needs Assessment report found there are around 1,500 youth experiencing homelessness on any given night in Toronto. The group makes up 10 per cent of the city’s shelter population.
One third of chronically homeless adults were also homeless in their youth.
Homelessness advocates want to see targeted employment programs, a youth lived experience advisory committee to ,guide city policies and better data management to track outcomes
