Suddenly, homeless teenagers are all over the Twin Cities -- cities and suburbs alike -- sleeping in port-a-potties and cars, camping under bridges or riding buses all night.
"Part of it is the economy, but we're also doing a better job of identifying who is homeless," said Karrie Schaaf, considered a state expert on youth homelessness in the metro area. "And now that times are hard economically, they're coming out of the woodwork."
Some are children of economically stressed families that have been forced to double up with other families; they simply don't have room to house older kids, said Schaaf, youth director for the Emma B. Howe Family YMCA in Coon Rapids.
Others were evicted from their homes on their 18th birthdays by struggling families facing foreclosure, said Judy Johnson, housing supervisor in Anoka County.
In Minnesota, the number of 18- to 21-year-olds in shelters more than doubled in the past three years, rising from 455 in 2006 to 987 last October, the Minnesota Department of Human Services said. In Anoka County, the homeless 18-21 population doubled in the past year alone, according to a January survey.
Family financial woes aren't the only cause of youth homelessness, but the strains of the economy have divided families.
"I miss meals all the time, and sometimes I won't fall asleep until 5 in the morning, if I fall asleep at all," said Maria Oldenburg, 18, a senior at Centennial Learning Center. She says she was asked to leave her father's home last summer, when she was 17, because she hadn't found a job, as he demanded, and she didn't get along with his girlfriend. At least two of her homeless friends were evicted by parents who said they could no longer afford them.
"I daydream about the perfect life, but I've stayed at 10 different houses since last summer, and rarely for more than two days at a time," Oldenburg said from the safety of a school conference room. "If things get really bad, I know I can count on my boyfriend. He's 16. He'll let me use his cell phone."
