Preventing youth homelessness through the YMCA’s Youth Diversion program 

By Jasmine Salazar 

A 14-year-old is caught shoplifting a jug of milk from a grocery store and the police get involved. They proceed to question the youth and, as they do, start to uncover his personal journey and what led him to shoplifting. What they learn is that Geoff* and his family have lost their home and are temporarily staying with a friend.    

In Edmonton, 25% of people currently experiencing homelessness are youth under the age of 24 (Edmonton’s By Name List, July 12, 2021). This includes youth who are unsheltered, provisionally accommodated or staying at an emergency shelter. Edmonton’s Community Strategy to End Youth Homelessness identifies Intervention and Prevention as one of three core strategies to eliminate or reduce the risks of youth becoming homeless. According to the Strategy, successful prevention approaches require ‘an integrated and coordinated system between youth serving agencies, government, and other organizations, both within and external to the homeless-serving sector.’  

One Edmonton program providing early intervention and prevention for youth is the YMCA’s Youth Diversion Program—a partnership with the Edmonton Police Services (EPS) with support from Homeward Trust and federal funding through Making the Shift (MtS).    

This Program targets youth aged 12 to 17 who have committed their first low-level criminal occurrence. Applying a restorative justice approach, the Program directs youth away from the criminal justice system and provides them with individualized supports to help them forge a new path away from crime and towards a positive future.   

The Program is designed to address the ‘upstream’ or root cause that led the youth to committing the criminal offence in the first place. Many early participants in the YMCA’s Youth Diversion Program were found to be experiencing housing instability or homelessness. Some youth, like Geoff, were still with their families who had lost their homes due to recent job losses and were staying in temporary accommodations. Other youth were couch-surfing at a close friend’s due to challenges at home that caused the youth to seek accommodation away from their home.    

Andrea Kocken, Youth Diversion Supervisor at the YMCA of Northern Alberta, says that in her experience, when a youth is without a stable home, whether they are sleeping outside or at a friend’s home, other troubles can start and then it spirals down from there.    

“If a youth has a stable home, they can work on their goals and help them towards a successful future,” she says. “It can be really tough to do that when you don’t have housing. Having a home really does come first.”   

Kocken explains that the Program is also designed for youth to foster positive relationships with their family and/or other caring adults outside the family unit (known as ‘natural supports’) for achieving housing stabilization. This could involve mending broken relationships between a youth and their parents.  

“If we can mend those relationships at home and deter a youth from becoming homeless in the first place, I think that’s a win,” she reflects. “Successful youth homelessness programs are built on that early intervention and prevention.”   

Through consistent communication, in-person or virtual meetings, and connecting youth to meaningful activities, YMCA’s Youth Diversion Program guides youth through a restorative justice process – this process has youth reflect on how their behaviour impacts others and helps them see their future with a positive outlook. 

As of June 30, 2021, the YMCA Youth Diversion Program has supported 165 youth in total, with 25 experiencing housing instability.  

How the program works   

Youth who have committed their first-time low-level offence are referred to the YMCA Youth Diversion Program by the Edmonton Police Service. This referral is part of the EPS DIVERSIONfirst program. The youth then work with a support worker from the YMCA and a DIVERSIONfirst constable in navigating a customized (restorative justice) plan that not only holds them accountable for their action, but also connects them to community supports and resources to address the underlying issues that led to that action in the first place.   

Those youth who do not have stable housing, either with families or independently, are guided to Homeward Trust’s Coordinated Access system to connect with a housing team. Coordinated Access, a critical component in the work to end homelessness, is a centralized system consisting of more than 80 access points in Edmonton, designed to match individuals and families experiencing homelessness with the right supports for housing based on their needs.   

“Housing and homelessness were a factor that contributed to Geoff getting involved with the justice system in the first place,” says Nick Blouin, Youth Programs Manager at Homeward Trust. “If we identify these youth or their families who are facing housing instability or homelessness early on and connect them to housing supports and resources, we could stop them becoming chronically homeless.”  

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This project is funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy. 

For more information on the YMCA Youth Diversion Program, visit northernalberta.ymca.ca/youthdiversion 

For more information on EPS’ DiversionFirst program, visit edmontonpolice.ca/DIVERSIONfirst  

For more information on Homeward Trust, visit homewardtrust.ca  

For more information on Making the Shift, visit homelesshub.ca/MtSDEMS/  

  

*Name and other identifying details have been changed to protect the identity of the youth.    

Glossary 

Chronic Homelessness – Experiencing sustained homelessness for one year or longer. 

Coordinated Access – Coordinated Access is a centralized system consisting of more than 80 access points in Edmonton, designed to match individuals and families experiencing homelessness with the right supports for housing based on their needs.   

Couch Surfing: Frequently sleeping on friends and/or family’s couches on a regular or intermittent basis, moving from household to household (CHF, 2015). 

Diversion: A preventative strategy/initiative to divert individuals from becoming homeless before they access a shelter or immediately expedite their exit from the shelter system. This may include helping people identify immediate alternative housing arrangements and connecting them with services and financial assistance to help them maintain or return to permanent housing. People requiring diversion assistance may be residing in any form of housing identified on the Housing and Supports Spectrum (AICH, 2015). 

Emergency Shelter – Any facility with the primary purpose of providing temporary accommodations and essential services for homeless individuals. Such accommodation represents a stop-gap institutional response to homelessness provided by government, non-profit, faith-based organizations and/or volunteers. 

Homelessness – The situation of an individual, family, or community without stable, safe, permanent, appropriate housing, or the immediate prospect, means and ability of acquiring it. It is the result of systemic or societal barriers, a lack of affordable and appropriate housing, the individual/household’s financial, mental, cognitive, behavioural or physical challenges, and/or racism and discrimination. Most people do not choose to be homeless, and the experience is generally negative, unpleasant, unhealthy, unsafe, stressful and distressing. 

Homelessness encompasses a range of physical living situations, including:  

• Unsheltered, or absolutely homeless and living on the streets or in places not intended for human habitation;  
• Emergency Sheltered, including those staying in overnight shelters for people who are homeless, as well as shelters for those impacted by family violence;  
• Provisionally Accommodated, referring to those whose accommodation is temporary or lacks security of tenure, and finally,  
• At Risk of Homelessness, referring to people who are not homeless, but whose current economic and/or housing situation is precarious or does not meet public health and safety standards. It should be noted that for many people homelessness is not a static state but rather a fluid experience, where one’s shelter circumstances and options may shift and change quite dramatically and with frequency. 

Making the Shift (MtS) – A Youth Homelessness Social Innovation Lab with a mandate to contribute to the transformation of how we respond to youth homelessness through research and knowledge mobilization specific to youth homelessness prevention and housing stabilization. The program is funded by the Government of Canada and co-led by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and A Way Home Canada.  

Natural Supports – Other caring adults outside the family unit (including teachers, coaches, neighbours, etc). 

Provisionally Accommodated – Refers to those whose accommodation is temporary or lacks security of tenure. This describes situations in which people, who are technically homeless and without permanent shelter, access accommodation that offers no prospect of permanence. 

Restorative Justice – The Department of Justice defines restorative justice as an approach that focuses on addressing the harm caused by crime while holding the offender responsible for their actions, by providing an opportunity for the parties directly affected by the crime—victims, offenders and communities—to identify and address their needs in the aftermath of a crime.  

Youth – Any individual who is between the ages of 15 and 30 (Government of Canada’s Youth Employment Strategy) or between the ages of 13-25 (Human Services, Government of Alberta). The specific definition used will be flexible, depending on the specific activity or strategy and partners involved. Homeward Trust’s youth programming, including Youth Housing First, work with youth ages 13-24. 

Youth Homelessness: A youth experiencing homelessness is an unaccompanied person age 24 and under lacking a permanent nighttime residence. They can be living on the street, in shelters, couch surfing, in unsafe and insecure housing, and / or living in abusive situations. They may also be about to be discharged without the security of a regular residence from a care, correction, health, or any other facility (CHF, 2017). 

Youth Housing First Program: A Housing First program for youth aged 13-24 with no readiness requirements. Youth are housed through a variety of housing options (e.g. independent living, supported independent living placements, family reunification) and provided with supports to help them successfully transition to adulthood. In Edmonton, e4c, Edmonton John Howard Society, Bent Arrow and Native Counselling Services of Alberta offer Youth Housing First.