I grew up not always knowing where I’d sleep. Here’s how to end youth homelessness | Opinion

Homelessness is a systemic issue that is present in every city in the Puget Sound region and is trickling down more and more to our youth in Pierce County. Homelessness exists specifically in young adults due to systemic barriers and historic inequities like poverty, racism, neglect, drug use and the lack of affordable housing.

These root causes often intersect, leading to more complicated oppression. For instance, when children age out of the foster care system at 18 years old, there is no established plan for them to get stable housing, education or employment. The system has failed to strengthen families and youth and young adults, support mental health and behavioral health services, and provide appropriate services to the community it serves.

All of these things disproportionately push youth and young adults — specifically youth and young adults of color — back to institutions, or into a pipeline of chronic homelessness. Currently, there are approximately 766 youth and young adults in Pierce County experiencing housing instability, according to data maintained by A Way Home Washington’s Anchor Community Initiative, and 70% of these young people are people of color.

As a young African American woman, I grew up in Tacoma and surrounding cities. Due to the lack of parental support, I started experiencing homelessness at 18, but housing instability was my reality well before I moved out of my parents’ home. It was all I had known, between staying with family members and in shelters and motels.

I stumbled upon the REACH Center, part of Tacoma Community House, which serves youth and young adults ages 12-24 experiencing housing instability in Pierce County. After deciding to move out of my family home when I was 18, I was working full-time to provide for myself and afford my apartment. I knew I needed to finish school if I wanted to continue to be successful. I utilized REACH to obtain my GED.

The REACH Center helped me find my confidence, secure an apartment, and most importantly, my case manager acted as a mentor to give me the push I needed to keep going. Now, at the age of 22, given my lived experience, knowledge of the issues and passion to give back to my community — and my desire to be a strong voice for all youth and young adults — I am employed at the REACH Center as the Youth Action Board’s Community Engagement Specialist.

The Youth Action Board is composed of 19 youth and young adults between the ages of 12 and 24 with current or previous lived experiences of homelessness and housing instability. We are the voice of the homeless youth in Pierce County. The Youth Action Board grew out of the REACH Center’s work with a small group of youth who were part of Pierce County’s participation in the Anchor Community Initiative. In 2020, this group of young people and the REACH Center officially formed the Youth Action Board to write a grant application for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Youth Homeless Demonstration Program.

Today, the Youth Action Board’s mission is to meet the needs of youth and young adults and empower those experiencing housing instability by giving them an opportunity to advocate for policies and programs that would benefit young people with similar experiences — while also better informing the REACH Center’s supportive work. Our advocacy is wide-ranging, including attending lobbying state lawmakers in Olympia and addressing city and county councils.

Basically, we want to better inform the public and elected leaders, provide feedback, and change the way decisions are made surrounding youth and young adult housing needs — while ensuring that there is nothing about us, without us. We believe strongly in not only listening to youth voices, but including those voices throughout the decision-making processes that impact youth and young adults experiencing housing instability.

On March 31, the REACH Center and members of the Youth Action Board will convene a meeting for Pierce County youth providers and other community-based organizations interested in youth services. The goal will be to inform these service providers of the state Office of Homeless Youth’s upcoming requests for proposals, which will help to determine funding decisions related to youth and young adult homeless services in Pierce County.

This meeting will help nonprofit agencies determine which programs our community needs, identify new demands and opportunities, and consider how we can partner with each other to make our applications and programs better meet the needs of our youth.

It is imperative that our community nonprofit organizations listen to and meet the needs of youth experiencing housing instability or homelessness.

They are the experts of their own needs.

Nyia Harris, a Tacoma native, serves as the Youth Action Board’s Community Engagement Specialist at the Reach Center. Harris has nurtured a drive to end youth and young adult homelessness from her own lived experience as well as from her professional work.