Homeless teens need safe harbor

By Quad-City Times

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The balmy summer nights are once again giving way to a chill in the air.

And while the change in the weather is welcomed by most, it's a sign to the homeless that their situation is about to become more critical.

As Times reporters Craig DeVrieze and Kay Luna have written about these past few days, a growing number of the Quad-Cities' homeless population includes teenagers.

Social service agencies know this. School district officials know this. Even parents who open their homes and make their couches available to their children's friends for a night or two know this.

But for most of the community, teens truly are the “hidden homeless.”

The numbers are elusive. At least one teen interviewed by DeVrieze moved on and into another community within weeks. The homeless don't leave forwarding addresses or phone numbers.

The very nature of homelessness makes it extremely difficult to quantify the problem and develop an overall strategy for dealing with it.

Schools, with a mandate from the federal government under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, are doing what they can to get these young people into school. But their help goes well beyond giving an education. It often includes meals, school supplies, clean clothes and networking with other agencies that can provide long-term assistance.

One school district staffer told the Times of running out to a discount store late in the evening to buy school supplies for a young woman who had nothing to begin classes with. That's just one among hundreds of similar stories we're sure are happening out there.

Drop-in centers on both sides of the river stand ready to help with a welcoming place for meals, homework and fellowship.

But at the end of the day, the question remains: Will these teens have a place to stay overnight?

There has been no overnight teen shelter since the facility operated by the now-defunct John L. Lewis organization closed in 2008. There seems to be agreement on the point that teens should not be housed in shelters with the general adult population.

Perhaps this is a good time for workers and agencies on the frontline of this issue to talk about whether a full-time shelter is a feasible idea, how it would be funded and who would operate it. There are several ideas in the works, most of them church-supported.

We believe this community, which is giving in so many ways, can take on this challenge. And we say thank you to the many caring people who are the lifelines and protectors for homeless teenagers in the Quad-Cities.