“Every little thing I did, I felt like I was in their way, even breathing.”
This statement, shared during a focus group by a young person in our community without stable housing who relied on relatives and acquaintances for a place to stay, highlights the emotional toll youth face as they try to meet their most basic need: a safe and stable place to live.
Solving youth homelessness is a difficult challenge for any community. Supporting youth without stable housing requires approaches that are fundamentally different from those our partners in Sangamon County have developed in recent years to support adults. Common perceptions of homelessness, focused primarily on individuals living unsheltered, are inadequate to capture the true scope of adult homelessness and even more so when it comes to youth.
Unaccompanied youth are rarely identified by our Street Outreach team in encampments. Instead, they are much more likely to move among friends and relatives, without a place that feels stable or secure. These arrangements can prevent young people from sleeping on the streets and being exposed to dangerous conditions, but they can create other safety risks and put youth in vulnerable situations simply to have a roof over their heads.
Our youth shouldn’t feel like they are in the way. They shouldn’t have to put themselves in vulnerable positions just to make sure they have a place to sleep.
Heartland Continuum of Care partners are working to better understand the level of need in our community and develop solutions that better support youth. The best source of information about how to improve services is the young people who have experienced housing instability themselves.
In 2025, the Heartland Youth Homelessness Task Group conducted “You Count!”, a survey initiative designed with support from community youth with lived experience of homelessness. The survey gave young people an opportunity to anonymously share their experiences, hardships and ideas for improvement.
Ninety-four youth ages 18 to 24 who were experiencing housing instability completed the survey. More than half were staying with family or friends, while 16% were staying in shelters and nearly 10% were staying outside, abandoned homes or in cars. More than 43% reported that they frequently moved from place to place. Eighteen percent said they felt unsafe in their current living situation, and more than 10% reported feeling pressured into activities they did not want to participate in because of their housing situation.
The “You Count!” survey highlights heartbreaking realities facing young people in our community.
In response to the survey and to begin turning what we learned into action, Heartland HOUSED partnered with Homebase to develop the Youth Homelessness Needs Report. Through data analysis, focus groups, and stakeholder engagement, the report provides the most thorough examination to date of the needs and opportunities for improving our community’s response to youth homelessness.
The report highlighted the need to increase the capacity of service providers offering shelter, housing and supportive services. From a systemwide perspective, it also identified the need to create a youth-specific system of care designed around the unique challenges young people face. This includes strengthening support to help youth navigate services related to housing, education, employment, health care and other areas of their lives.
Beyond these local gaps, there are additional challenges to effectively supporting youth. Federal agencies differ in how they define homelessness. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development prioritizes households that meet the criteria for “literal homelessness,” while the U.S. Department of Education includes youth who are “doubled up” with relatives or friends in its definition. These differing definitions and the ways they are reflected in federally funded programs can create silos that require deep collaboration to break through. They can also create additional barriers for young people trying to navigate the support they need.
The youth of our community deserve care that meets them where they are and provides the support and safety they need. We have to develop a better way forward.
With the work of “You Count!” and the Youth Homelessness Needs Report in hand, Heartland HOUSED has begun pursuing grants and other funding opportunities to build on the work accomplished over the past five years to strengthen our homeless crisis response for adults and families and to create a system of care designed specifically to meet the needs of youth. While we pursue funding, the Heartland Continuum of Care Youth Homelessness Task Group and Youth Action Board are working to put the recommendations of the Needs Report into action.
A strong group of collaborative partners is determined to move this work forward, and we believe it is imperative that we create change as quickly as possible. But we cannot do it alone. Moving forward will require deep collaboration across our community. We welcome your partnership and support. If you are interested in being part of this work or supporting pilot programs, we encourage you to get involved in creating a safer, healthier and stronger community for our youth.
Josh Sabo is executive director of Heartland HOUSED, which serves as the backbone organization tasked with developing strategy, supporting implementation activities and facilitating the collaborative work of the Heartland Continuum of Care with the purpose of effectively addressing homelessness in Sangamon County.
This article appears in August 6-12, 2026.
