After the crisis in 2008 and especially during the last years, economy has had a huge impact. In this context of political austerity, increasing unemployment and poverty, young people and migrants are undoubtedly the most vulnerable, threatened and targeted part of the population.
Eurostat portrays a clear panorama: in November 2018 the unemployment rate in Europe was 6.7%
of the entire population and more than double for people under 25 (15.2%).43
«In most European countries, young people be-tween 18 and 29 years old represent 20 to 30%
of all homeless people.»44 (Serme-Morin, 2016) Even though the causes and the consequences of youth homelessness are the same of every-body else, the fact that young people are exposed to a poor environment lacking of sane principles and vibrant engagements, esponentially increase the gravity of the repercussions. Children, for in-tance, are extremely influenced by parents and
43. Eurostat, Unemployment by sex and age – monthly average (table), 2018, http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/submitViewTableAction.do
44. Chloé Serme-Morin, FEANTSA Youth: advocating for young people’s right to hou-sing in Europe, in FEANTSA, Homeless in Europe – Preventing youth homelessness:
Case Studies from across Europe and North America, Spring 2016, p. 4, https://www.
feantsa.org/download/magazine_spring_2016_youth3935837121310495469.
1. understanding homelessness 21
in case the latters cannot offer stable conditions or, worse, are absent, the future of next genera-tions does not appears so bright. «Trigger fac-tors for youth homelessness are sadly consistent across countries: problems in the family home (often due to lack of income and poor housing conditions); discrimination based on sexuality (25% of homeless youth are LGBTQI45); personal substance abuse, mental health (often undiag-nosed) issues, learning disabilities, and other structural factors including problems within the education system, involvement with the criminal justice system.»46 (Jones, 2016) «The European Observatory on Homelessness has called the increase in homeless youth across Europe the most striking trend in homeless demographics.
The Department of Justice in the US estimates over 1.9 million teens experience homelessness in the US each year (Bardine et al., 2014)47. In Can-ada, approximately 35,000 youth are homeless annually (Gaetz, 2014)48, while UK sources report at least 83,000 youth were homeless in the UK in 2014 (Clarke et al., 2015)49.50 If we also add factors
such as discrimination, migration and exit from children’s care system that does not provide ade-quate housing solution, the situation can only get worse.
On the other hand there is migration homeless-ness. Over the last few years, this phenomenon has been constantly on the rise: more and more people, usually for causes concerning war and ex-treme poverty in the homecountry, move towards EU to find fortune. Due to economical and bureau-cratic barriers, these shiftings are often provided with illegal ways that end up being even lethal.
«An estimated 362,000 refugees and migrants risked their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea in 2016, with 181,400 people arriving in Italy and 173,450 in Greece. In the first half of 2017, over 105,000 refugees and migrants entered Eu-rope. This movement towards Europe continues to take a devastating toll on human life. Since the beginning of 2017, over 2,700 people are believed to have died or gone missing while crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe, with reports of many others perishing en route.»51 (The UN
Ref-47. Bardine, D. et al., Youth Homelessness in America, The national network of youth, 2014, in Canada Without Poverty, Youth rights! Right now! Ending youth homelessness: a human rights guide, p. 3, https://www.feantsa.org/download/
youthrights-guideeu-finalcompressed57863223550928774401.pdf
48. Stephen Gaetz, Coming of Age: Reimagining our Response to Youth Homelessness in Canada, 2014, Toronto: Homeless Hub Research Paper Series #11, in Canada Without Poverty, Youth rights! Right now! Ending youth homelessness: a human ri-45. LGBTQI is the acronym of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer,
In-tersex, http://lgbtq2stoolkit.learningcommunity.ca/wp/wp-content/uplo-ads/2014/12/LGBTQ2S-Definitions.pdf
46. Samara Jones, Can we really prevent young people from becoming homeless in Europe?, in FEANTSA, Homeless in Europe – Preventing youth homelessness: Case Stu-dies from across Europe and North America, Spring 2016, p. 2, https://www.feantsa.
org/download/magazine_spring_2016_youth3935837121310495469.pdf 1. understanding homelessness
22
ghts guide, p. 3, https://www.feantsa.org/download/youthrights-guideeu-final-compressed57863223550928774401.pdf
49. Clarke, A. et al., Estimating the scale of youth homelessness in the UK, 2015, Cambridge Centre for Housing & Planning Research, in Canada Without Po-verty, Youth rights! Right now! Ending youth homelessness: a human rights guide, p. 3, https://www.feantsa.org/download/youthrights-guideeu-finalcompres-sed57863223550928774401.pdf
ugee Agency) (fig. 10)
Those who manage to land safely split into two categories: migrants who seek asylum in the welcoming country and others who undertake further travels to reach different parts of the continent. They «are defined as migrants in tran-sit while they reside for a limited time in other
countries.»52 (FEANTSA, 2017) FEANTSA defines migrants in transit in a precarious human rights situation for two main reasons. Firstly, because due to their moving attitude they cannot recieve support from the hosting country. It is mandatory, indeed, for those who seek help from the govern-ment to register as asylum seekers. Not that for
50. Canada Without Poverty, Youth rights! Right now! Ending youth homelessness:
a human rights guide, p. 3, https://www.feantsa.org/download/youthrights-gui-deeu-finalcompressed57863223550928774401.pdf
51. UNHCR, Europe Situation, in «Emergencies», https://www.unhcr.org/euro-pe-emergency.html
52. FEANTSA, Homelessness among migrants in transit needs to be addressed, 2017, p. 1, https://www.feantsa.org/download/homelessness-among-migran-FIG. 10 | Refugees on a boat crossing the Mediterranean sea, heading from Turkish coast to the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos, 29 January 2016
Photo Credit: (edit of) Mstyslav Chernov via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
1. understanding homelessness 23
stable migrants life is easier: times and lists for acceptance are endless and people are forced to live on the street, in overcrowded conditions or in temporary solutions if they are lucky, ending up being deprived from their dignity as humans and becoming vulnerable to every form of violence.
Secondly, because in recent times, restrictions and laws for transiting across boarders have be-come tougher and tougher. Migrants in transit have the possibility to apply for support in the welcoming country, but some deliberately refuse because they hope to leave as soon as possible (FEANTSA, 2017).
Every year, an increasing number of people is at risk. Usually, prevention measures and a lack of preventive interventions are not enough to tackle the issue. What should be done as quickly as pos-sible is to integrate targeted and efficient mea-sures into national policies, taking inspiration from those countries, like Finland53, that succed-ed in rsucced-educing the number of homeless.