This installment of our “Unlikely Unhoused” series focuses on four common ways young people end up unhoused. At Nest Community Shelter, we’ve encountered each of these common examples of the unlikely unhoused young people.

We know that those experiencing generational homelessness, LGBTQ+ youth, young adults aging out of foster care, and college students are all at significantly higher risk of becoming unhoused than their peers. These young people are often high-achieving, employed, or enrolled in school, working to build a stable future, yet find themselves without stable housing due to circumstances largely beyond their control. Today, we will look at the four most common groups of young adults experiencing homelessness.

Generational Homelessness: When this Situation is Familiar

We know that when individuals experience homelessness as children, they’re 46% more likely to experience homelessness as adults. In fact, we did an entire series on generational homelessness on the Nest Blog back in 2024. (Click here to read more about generational homelessness.) One might not think of homelessness as a generational event, but it is. We see it in our guest population at Nest. It is very common for young adults to shelter with us as a direct result of experiencing homelessness as children. For some, homelessness can look different, such as couch-surfing, living in a vehicle, or even a shelter.

The part of this population that makes them unlikely to be unhoused is that while experiencing homelessness as youth, we find that many parents worked, often multiple jobs, yet still could not afford stable housing. These youth are usually part of families that love and care for them and are genuinely doing their best to provide for their children. Most of these children do experience pockets of stability. Still, due to the stigma of being unhoused, changes in school, and other stressors related to this situation, they face an uphill battle as young adults and adults, and often fall into this generational trap.

Facts on Generational Homelessness:

  • The UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative defines intergenerational homelessness as occurring when two generations of a family experience homelessness, either together or separately.
  • Research from the Family Housing Fund notes that being unhoused influences every facet of a child’s life. A well-established body of research shows a profound effect on child development, leading many to repeat the cycle of homelessness as adults.

 

LGBTQ+ Youth: When Home Becomes Unsafe

These young people often come from seemingly stable, middle-class homes. They’re frequently high-achieving students involved in extracurriculars with friendship networks and college plans. Many continue attending school regularly, maintaining the appearance of normalcy while hiding their housing crisis from peers and teachers. According to True Colors United, family conflict is the most common cause of all youth homelessness. Still, for LGBTQ+ youth in particular, this conflict often relates directly to their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Facts on LGBTQ+ Youth Who are Unhoused:

  • According to a study by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, LGBTQ youth are among the most at-risk subpopulations for homelessness. Young adults (18-25) who identify as LGBTQ experienced homelessness at more than twice the rate of their non-LGBTQ peers. Black LGBTQ youth, especially young men, had the highest rates of homelessness.
  • According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, 26% of homeless LGBTQ youth report being forced out of their homes solely because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. A study of more than 350 runaway and homeless providers identified family rejection resulting from sexual orientation or gender identity as the top cause for homelessness among LGBTQ+ youth, followed by physical, emotional, or sexual abuse.

Foster Youth: The Cliff at 18

Unlike their peers who head to college with family support, family cars, and family safety nets, foster youth face adulthood with minimal resources. They have no co-signer for apartments, no family to fall back on during employment gaps, and no one to call when things go wrong. These aren’t teenagers who “didn’t try hard enough.” Research shows that 48% of former foster youth who are homeless are likely to be in school and/or employed. They’re actively working to build stable lives. However, the sudden withdrawal of all support at an arbitrary age, when most young people still rely heavily on family, can create the perfect storm for homelessness.

Facts about Fostered Youth & Homelessness:

  • The National Foster Youth Institute reports that an estimated 20% of young adults in care become homeless the moment they’re emancipated at age 18.
  • Research published by Youth.gov suggests that 31% to 46% of youth exiting foster care experience homelessness by age 26.
  • According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, 50% of the entire homeless population has spent time in foster care, and 25% of youth who had been in foster care at age 17 and surveyed at age 21 reported experiencing homelessness at some point in the previous two years.

 

College Students: Educated and Unhoused

These students are enrolled in higher education, often maintaining GPAs, and managing coursework alongside jobs. According to research from Temple University’s Sara Goldrick-Rab, homeless college students devote as much time to the classroom and studying as college students who are not homeless. However, they also work more, commute more, spend more time caring for others, and sleep less. For these young adults experiencing homelessness, this can often look like sleeping in a vehicle, a friend’s couch, or a motel. They typically blend in on campus. They attend the same classes, study in the same libraries, and participate in the same activities as their housed peers, making their homelessness largely invisible.

Facts about Unhoused Students:

  • According to the 2019-20 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:20)—the first federally funded nationally representative data on student homelessness—8% of undergraduate students and 5% of graduate students are experiencing homelessness. This translates to more than 1.5 million students.
  • The Hope Center’s 2023-2024 Student Basic Needs Survey Report from 91 institutions across 16 states found that 14% of undergraduate students experience homelessness.

 

Homelessness & Young Adults

Some young adults experience homelessness at no fault of their own but find themselves in a precarious situation at such a vital time in their lives. This time in a young adult’s life sets them up for success as a functioning adult in society. We know that experiencing homelessness is traumatic even in the best of circumstances.      For those who experience homelessness, we know that the outcome is often negative, leading to poorer mental health and higher rates of substance abuse. The mental health risks of experiencing homelessness include depression, anxiety, and PTSD, which when left untreated have a significant impact on the lives of these individuals.

There is a physical toll that experiencing homelessness takes on young adults, from food insecurity leading to poor nutrition, lack of a safe place to rest, causing sleep deprivation to higher rates of illness. Being unhoused is difficult on the body.

In order to cope, we often see substance abuse disorders emerge at this time. While this is not true of every young adult, it does happen frequently. All of this has a knock-on impact on who this individual will become and what their adult life will look like.

Understanding that homelessness affects young people who are actively pursuing stability is the first step in providing solutions. These aren’t “troubled teens” or “runaways,” they’re our community’s young people who need safe housing, supportive services, and adults who believe in them.

 

Resources: 

  1. Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at UCSF (2023). “Intergenerational Homelessness and Housing Insecurity.” https://homelessness.ucsf.edu/blog/intergenerational-homelessness-and-housing-insecurity
  2. Homeless Hub (2015). “What are the statistics on multigenerational homelessness?” https://www.homelesshub.ca/blog/what-are-statistics-multigenerational-homelessness
  3. National Network for Youth. “Youth Homelessness.” https://nn4youth.org/learn/youth-homelessness/
  4. The Trevor Project (2022). “Homelessness and Housing Instability Among LGBTQ Youth.” https://www.thetrevorproject.org/research-briefs/homelessness-and-housing-instability-among-lgbtq-youth-feb-2022/
  5. National Coalition for the Homeless (2023). “LGBTQ Homelessness.” https://nationalhomeless.org/lgbtq-homelessness/
  6. National Network for Youth. “LGBTQ+ Youth Homelessness.” https://nn4youth.org/learn/lgbtq-homeless-youth/
  7. Covenant House. “Homelessness Among LGBTQ+ Youth & Gay Teens.” https://www.covenanthouse.org/homeless-issues/lgbtq-youth
  8. Human Rights Campaign (2020). “New Report on Youth Homeless Affirms that LGBTQ Youth Disproportionately Experience Homelessness.” https://www.hrc.org/news/new-report-on-youth-homeless-affirms-that-lgbtq-youth-disproportionately-ex
  9. Williams Institute at UCLA (2021). “Homelessness Among LGBT Adults in the US.” https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/lgbt-homelessness-us/
  10. True Colors United. “Our Issue.” https://truecolorsunited.org/our-issue/
  11. Youth.gov. “Homelessness and Housing – LGBTQ+ Youth.” https://youth.gov/youth-topics/lgbtq-youth/homelessness
  12. Prison Policy Initiative (2019). “LGBTQ youth are at greater risk of homelessness and incarceration.” https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2019/01/22/lgbtq_youth/
  13. The Annie E. Casey Foundation (2025). “What Happens to Youth Aging Out of Foster Care?” https://www.aecf.org/blog/what-happens-to-youth-aging-out-of-foster-care
  14. Alternative Family Services (2022). “35 Foster Youth Homelessness Statistics You Should Know.” https://www.afs4kids.org/blog/35-foster-youth-homelessness-statistics-you-should-know/
  15. Penny Lane Centers. “Foster Care Statistics.” https://www.pennylane.org/resources/foster-care-statistics
  16. National Foster Youth Institute. “Homelessness & Foster Youth.” https://nfyi.org/issues/homelessness-2/
  17. University of Florida IFAS Extension (2022). “Foster Care Youth in Transition: How to Help Mitigate Risks of Homelessness.” https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FY1516
  18. Youth.gov. “Child Welfare System.” https://youth.gov/youth-topics/homelessness-and-housing-instability/child-welfare-system
  19. Dworsky, A., et al. (2013). “Homelessness During the Transition From Foster Care to Adulthood.” American Journal of Public Health. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3969135/
  20. Breaktime (2024). “The Foster-Care-to-Homelessness Pipeline.” https://www.breaktime.org/post/the-foster-care-to-homelessness-pipeline
  21. Covenant House. “Gaps in Foster Care Lead to Youth Homelessness.” https://www.covenanthouse.org/homeless-issues/foster-care
  22. SchoolHouse Connection (2025). “Youth Homelessness and Higher Education: An Overview.” https://schoolhouseconnection.org/article/youth-homelessness-and-higher-education-an-overview
  23. NPR (2024). “What it’s like to be a homeless college student.” https://www.npr.org/2024/03/15/1238986250/encore-what-its-like-to-be-a-homeless-college-student
  24. The Hope Center for Student Basic Needs, Temple University. “New Federal Data Confirm that College Students Face Significant—and Unacceptable—Basic Needs Insecurity.” https://hope.temple.edu/npsas
  25. Whiteboard Advisors (2023). “Homeless and hungry: How prevalent is basic needs insecurity among college students?” https://whiteboardadvisors.com/college-students-basic-needs-insecurity-data/
  26. Inside Higher Ed (2023). “Federal data belatedly measure student basic needs insecurity.” https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/physical-mental-health/2023/08/04/federal-data-belatedly-measure-student-basic-needs
  27. National Alliance to End Homelessness (2025). “Learning Without a Home: Will a Housing First Approach Work on Campus?” https://endhomelessness.org/blog/learning-without-a-home-will-a-housing-first-approach-work-on-campus/
  28. NPR (2018). “Hunger And Homelessness Are Widespread Among College Students, Study Finds.” https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/03/599197919/hunger-and-homelessness-are-widespread-among-college-students-study-finds
  29. BestColleges (2022). “Student Homelessness and Basic Needs Insecurity.” https://www.bestcolleges.com/resources/homeless-student-guide/
  30. USC Rossier School of Education. “The impacts of college student homelessness.” https://rossier.usc.edu/news-insights/news/impacts-college-student-homelessness

 

 

 

 

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