Help for Homeless Youth

COVID-19, and what seems to be a neverending quarantine, is a struggle for most in one way or another. Some people may find it easier to stay in if they are homebodies or germaphobes because going out may make them more anxious. On the other hand, there are the social butterflies, claustrophobes, and students who are stunted in their abilities to get anything done due to COVID-19 constraints.

However, not everyone in the U.S. has the luxury of a home to confine in. While many complain of how the pandemic brought about isolation, cabin fever, and zoom meetings, an estimated “66,433 people now live on the streets, in shelters, and in vehicles” in Los Angeles alone, according to NPR. In addition, “There [are] approximately 4,673 homeless youth on the streets of LA County on any given night,” according to Safe Place for Youth.

Santa Monica College (SMC) provides connections to programs for unhoused students in need. For example, the Safe Parking Program allows vehicle dwellers to find safe and local places to park and sleep at night. Safe Place for Youth is another resource in collaboration with SMC that allows students to connect with a housing specialist, like Sarah Fay, the SMC Campus Peer Navigator, to provide virtual housing support.

“I'm going to class dirty, and I'm going to class hungry, and I'm going to class tired because I haven't slept all night, and I can't even focus on my work," said Fay. She continued, "I finally grew the confidence to approach my biology teacher at West LA. I told her: look, I'm a former foster youth, I'm homeless, is there anything you could do to help me? And she told me, ‘What is that? What do you mean? You’re a foster youth? What is that?’”

Fay's biology teacher didn’t know what a foster youth was and didn’t have the resources to help her. This is what ultimately inspired her to find solutions to these kinds of issues. She was then connected with the Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) program at West LA College. The EOPS program is “a State-funded comprehensive academic counseling program designed to provide additional support to eligible full-time students,” according to the college website. EOPS granted Fay the ability to create her position as Campus Peer Navigator.

Safe Place for Youth also offers a program called “Host Homes” inviting members of the Santa Monica Community to help support unhoused students and youth in need. "Host Homes is a program where homeowners are provided initiatives and monthly stipends from us to open up their home, or an extra room that they may have because a lot of people have a lot of room and a lot of extra space that they don't utilize,” said Fay.

Fay hopes to one day eliminate the stigmas around homelessness and to educate the population about what it really looks like. “I really truly stress the need for the advocacy and educating the faculty members at schools," said Fay. "Teaching them about how to identify homeless students, how to introduce that support in their syllabuses [at] the beginning of the semester, and even providing contact information to somebody like me is helpful."

Resources such as those at Safe Place for Youth are crucial and need to be at every school in Santa Monica, and the greater U.S., to help put an end to youth homelessness. People getting involved in Safe Place for Youth's programs will have a positive impact on unhoused students who feel like they have no voice. The responsibility falls on housed people and the students of SMC to do all that they can for those who are unhoused, even if it is just being kind and aware.

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