A hardscrabble life for homeless teens in suburbs

They live in cars. They hide in bushes. They ride buses all night long -- for safety and warmth.

They are homeless. They are teenagers. And they live in the suburbs.

There are no youth shelters in Anoka County, but last January -- the last time anyone tried to count -- there were 191 youngsters the county considered homeless, said Karrie Schaaf, youth development director of the Northtown Family YMCA. And that was before the housing crisis went full-tilt, leading to a flood of foreclosures that has teen advocates and social workers dreading the potential number of homeless teens who will show up when records are updated this coming January.

Where are these kids who have been rejected by parents, or have succumbed to drugs, or have fled troubled homes? Where are the kids in Anoka County, who live out of their backpacks?

Go to a truckstop in Ramsey, along Hwy. 10. Check the caves along the river. Stop by the skate park in Coon Rapids.

Visit a public library or the nearest mall, where homeless kids can walk around all day before they ride the buses at night. Understand why the Anoka County Board passed a resolution last week declaring November "Homeless Awareness Month."

'There's nowhere to put the kids'

He was forced to trade a life of comfort for a life on the streets, learning life skills while always on the move.

Schaaf asked the 16-year-old if she could help, if he needed anything.

"All he wanted from me was a jar of peanut butter," she told the Anoka County Board. Now she carries a big Skippy jar in her purse. It's nearly empty and she can't tell you the last time she opened it. But she rarely goes anywhere without it. Just a reminder, she says.

"Runaways are typically running from something," she says.

Sometimes they don't run far enough. Brittany was one of those kids, she said. She was "couch-hopping, trying to turn her life around," a life once spun out of control by drug abuse, Schaaf said.

She wonders, "If we had a family shelter in Anoka ... This place would be the difference."

"We get phone calls," she said of county teen advocates, "but there's nowhere to put the kids."

Jason Stanger didn't run away. He left home after troubles with his mom more than a year ago, he said. The 19-year-old from Blaine said that happened after "I got in trouble with the law and a whole other thing." What followed was a succession of jobs and temporary housing, including a Minneapolis homeless shelter and transitional housing in St. Paul, as well as a burglary rap that got him five years' probation.

"I don't think I ever went hungry," he said. "I never lived on the streets." "When you're homeless, you tend to stay by yourself."

Now, he's enrolled at Minneapolis Community & Technical College, where he begins classes in January. He's reconciling with his mom. He's still looking for a job.

In "Heading Home Anoka," a quest to end homelessness, the Anoka County Community Continuum of Care is asking the County Board, the community and the state to educate the community on suburban homelessness; ensure that housing is affordable in Anoka County and increase the number of permanent housing units that are affordable; and increase the number of transitional housing units with specific special-needs services.

These are "throwaway kids," Schaaf said of the county's homeless teens.

Some run after being sexually abused, or because of self-esteem issues, or because of drugs and alcohol. She knows parents of troubled children can become emotionally exhausted, that foreclosures are devastating.

She asks that people understand that all kids deserve a safe, warm place they can call home.

She looks at her peanut butter jar and smiles.