I don't consider a 23-year-old a "youth." Even legally, I believe anyone 18 or older is considered an "adult," and not a youth, juvenile, or a teen. It's amazing how people distort statistics.

For the poor family of 6 that moved here because of family connections, it's sad that there are "family issues" preventing them from getting assistance from family. Those relationships can be dicey. But, it sounds like the family connection isn't what they thought it was and maybe they should consider where they can best provide for their 4 children Long-Term.

The studies conducted by the University of Chicago are presented in an extremely misleading or ambiguous fashion that is unsuitable for any scholarly work:
"From that survey, the study found that one in 10 young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 were experiencing some form of homelessness -- roughly 3.5 million people. Between the ages of 13 and 17, at least one in 30 were experiencing homelessness, or about one in every classroom, according to the study. Surprisingly, the Chapin Hill study found homelessness was prevalent in both rural and urban areas; it was a problem shared by San Francisco as well as South Dakota."
OK, so are these data nation-wide data? The article presents them in a context that supports the preceding paragraphs that this is a Bay Area problem, the the statistics are not presented in anything approach a relevant format. Looking at the statistics specifically, I think we can take comformt that only 3% of high school aged students are homeless. That the rate more than triples to 10% immediately following high school is more alarming. What safety nets are being lost in that timeframe (family, school, community, personality, psychological) and what is causing the rapid increase in homelessness rates in just a few years?

Another study: "These findings are mirrored in a mix of other recently published reports. About one in 10 college students in California are homeless, according to a 2016 report by the California State University system. About one in five college students lacked enough food to eat."
OK, what is the definition of "homeless"? I can see a lot of college kids sleeping on couches to save on expenses. And lacking enough food to eat? My wife picked blackberries on the side of the road for 2 meals a day (when they were in season) because she didn't have enough money for food. It happens. Thus far, these people have the strength to stay in college, like my wife, and create a better life for themselves.

Finally: "People don't just fall out of the sky and one day become chronically homeless," said Barbara Duffield, former policy director at the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth. "The pipeline for homelessness is youth homelessness, and the failure to address youth homelessness is leading to more homelessness."
Where is the study citation that shows that the 3% of 13-17 year olds who are homeless grow into the 10% of 18-25 year olds who are homeless? While I don't necessarily agree with the conclusion, for an article that cites a lot of studies, the linkage was not made for this conclusion.

More locally, the Santa Clara-based Bill Wilson Center surveyed South Bay community colleges and reported that 44 percent of students -- nearly half the student body -- identified a classmate who was experiencing homelessness. The study eliminated duplicate student names provided by those surveyed, Flores said.

this report by mark noack is a devastating indictment of our society turning its back on our children. a system that tolerates this numbers of homeless youth is a society in decline. there is no mass anger, no mass mobilization to address the issue.
we are now numbed by the effects of capitalism in our country and continue to believe that this failure is the product of failed personal responsibility and not a system failure. blame the victims and not the system that produces these results. End homelessness is the rally cry -- but there is no recognition of the root causes embedded in the politicsocioeconomic forces we so blindly accept

in the book nomadland we learn of tens of thousands of seniors on social security roaming the country in rvs looking for work. men and women picking sugar beats in minnessota, cleaning toilets at summer camp grounds in the sierras, trudging the concrete 12 hours a day in amazon fulfillment centers in arizona

where will this lead - your guess is as good as mine - autocracy, roving bands of hungry men and women, inter racial blaming (oh that is alreday happening), - etc

already the death rate for whites in America has been declining for 2 decades related to suicides, homicides, depression, drug and alcohol induced diseases. same as happened in russia after the fall

this can grow until something happens - ? what

what do you think

you wonder why the SC parent goes to such lengths to deny and counterthe problem that is so visible every day all around us

No, I wonder why "russell" evidently didn't bother to follow or even to think about the gaps, unexplained data, and unclear connections in the article, there for anyone to see, which "SC parent" carefully and patiently summarized. What's the value of mere reasoning (russell seems to say), when you can fall back on an offhand impression.

And why "mike," also without any serious scrutiny at all of arguments featured in the article and their limitations, instead characterized it rhetorically as a "devastating indictment" and used it as a stepping-off point for sweeping "politicsocioeconomic" theories.

In other words, one of three comments above, so far, was engaged enough to examine the article seriously and address it thoughtfully. That is what I think.

Thank you for a well researched article; the facts, hard to accept are an everyday reality for the families interviewed. Many families are afraid to seek assistance because they fear it could result in a CPS report, (homelessness in itself is not reportable), and while there is a paranoia about children being “taken away” by the social workers, on the flip side, with a report a family could have access to resources, including housing. But, because of the demand in this area, living in an RV is often a safer and more desirable alternative. As someone who works in the community, it’s easy for those more fortunate, those with a stable roof over their head to dismiss these facts— but it’s REALITY.
And, while technically a 23 year old is considered a “legal adult”, organizations such as the Bill Wilson Center work with what is called “transitional aged youth”, 18-24 year olds, which I believe was the age of the population surveyed.

I know what I wrote with infuriate the Internet trolls in here, for whatever reason, but I just wanted to commend the author on a well written article.

Thank you!

I would love to see a follow up article exposing how local residents support helping the homeless, all the while fighting against anything that would actually help them, such as increases in housing inventory (and density). These are victims of a housing shortage created by residents and their locally elected government, which eventually reflects their views. If you want to make an actual difference, lobby for building more residential units, doesn't matter if they're ownership or rental, and relax codes which make it ludicrously expensive to build here, making only luxury units cost effective.

I'm a home owner, I'm up to debt in my ears, and I would love to see house prices fall - a lot, so that we have a community that's a mix of people of different backgrounds, rather than a tech enclave.

Why isn't the story of the family that works in Los Altos, and goes to college in Los Altos, considered a problem for Los Altos? Why doesn't the family move their RV to there instead, and be even closer?

Why isn't the story of a family of SIX, where they can barely afford anything, a question of, "Hey, maybe don't have 4 kids if you can't afford them, and hey, while you're at it, don't move to one of the most expensive areas in the country at the same time?"

Why are these two things, which are both obvious matters of choice and desire instead of matters of necessities, considered a problem for the city of Mountain View to solve for these individuals?

@Responsibility nails it. So many of the comments show how current society and attitudes relate to entitlement, “rights”, “I’m owed”.

What happened to personal responsibility? And how the hell did 18-24 become “transitional adult”. You can guarantee my kids won’t be transitional adults at that age, they will be hard-working contributing members of society, not snowflakes whining about what they’re owed here.

Modern society values taking care of all its members, especially its most vulnerable. You're stuck in the Ayn Rand sociopathic world where everyone only cares about themselves, and we've thankfully moved past that.

[Portion removed due to disrespectful comment or offensive language]

@Responsibility - your eugenic beliefs are showing.

@mvresident2003 - Prepare to be surprised. Unless things change drastically, "at that age," your kids will either be mooching off of you because the costs versus available wages ratio will be so high that they'll either have to get help or move elsewhere, or they'll be in college accumulating precedent-breaking amounts of debt. If you're rich, more power to you and best of luck to your kids, but you should learn to get out of Silicon Valley more often and see the difference between wealth and productive membership of society.

We're not rich and yes, my kids will almost certainly be moving elsewhere, as will we. There's no way we can afford to retire here and we will miss our friends and family but life's about choices we so far we've tended to make smart, often hard, ones. I have no expectation that I should be able to stay here just because I've lived here the past 20 years.

And don't tell me to go outside of SV, I grew up outside of SV, I've lived quite a few places as an adult outside of SV, most of my family are in different states, I know very well what it's like elsewhere. There's no place I'd rather live than right here and yet again, we will be moving upon retirement as we won't be able to afford to stay here. And before you wish me a speedy trip, don't bother, it's a ways off so I'll be around for a while. Lucky you!

"I have no expectation that I should be able to stay here"

I wonder... do you ever go to a fast food place or a restaurant? Shop at a grocery store? Shop anywhere other than online, for that matter? Do you enjoy having weed-free public spaces? Potholes filled? Expect a receptionist to answer the phone when you call a business? Enjoy clean offices and hospitals and restrooms? Get your car washed?

Need I go on?

Do you expect all those people to commute 2+ hours each way to their jobs from "cheaper" areas? Is our public transit system sufficient to enable those folks to travel that distance without having to pay for the gas & maintenance & insurance on their cars that would pretty much obliterate the money they are making?

Can you imagine a city filled with only tech workers, lawyers, and perhaps doctors... and none of these other people? How would that city even function?

The article is doing a good job of pointing out how complicated the situation is. I don't see the particular issue about being young and homeless. It seems more like a situation of overall homelessness. It appears to be more of an economic thing. In the past the poorly paid workers could scrounge some subpar place to live, but the nature of those subpar places has deteriorated. It's the income gap causing these problems. There seem to be too many people being paid too much, driving up the rates charged for housing locations. The economy is causing this by being too uneven in its compensation of citizens.

For example, some of the seedy motels have been taken over by better paying customers. Older SRO apartment buildings have been demolished to make room for the HQ of 23andMe. It seems to me the only "fix" is public housing, but when the article documents people moving to Los Angeles to Mountain View and being homeless here, that doesn't speak well of the chance for improving things by adding housing in just one city in the State.

I love this by Barbara Duffield...brilliantly stated, ""People don't just fall out of the sky and one day become chronically homeless," said Barbara Duffield, executive director of SchoolHouse Connection. "The pipeline for homelessness is youth homelessness, and the failure to address youth homelessness is leading to more homelessness." If we can solve youth homelessness, we can solve a lot.
- Landon Rust | OCL Web Link