The Akron Legal News

Drop-in centers prove better option for homeless teens than shelters

ALLISON SLONAKER
Special to the Legal News
Published: February 9, 2016

Homeless teens are more likely to embrace a drop-in center than a homeless shelter, according to researchers at The Ohio State University.

Teens without homes, many of whom have suffered while in the hands of the ones they trusted to provide them care, often refuse to go to shelters for warmth and nourishment, the researchers said.

However, there is new evidence that shows drop-in centers, a safe haven with fewer rules and no older adults, may provide a better path to jobs, sobriety and safe, secure housing.

The results of the study proved what lead researcher Natasha Slesnick has seen in her two decades of work with the homeless youth.

Drop-in centers have a larger appeal for the hardest-to-reach kids due to being tailored to the kids needs and age, she said.

Slesnick, a professor of human sciences at The Ohio State University, now has data to show drop-in centers are powerful hubs for young people to help move them away from homelessness and towards employment, housing and stability.

“Many kids won’t go to shelters because they’re hiding on the street. They’re avoiding the service system because they’ve been abused and betrayed by everyone who is supposed to love them,” said Slesnick.

Slesnick is also the founder and executive director of Ohio State’s Star House, which is a drop-in center located close to campus that serves more than 800 young people each year.

“They’re fearful of being preyed upon by older people at shelters, and the paperwork can be overwhelming,” she said.

For the study, researchers went into the woods, abandoned buildings, sandwich lines and libraries in Columbus to find homeless and disconnected teens and young adults.

The study consisted of 79 homeless individuals who were assigned an advocate, whose job was to focus on the kids’ needs and goals and help them connect with the right services.

The group of teens was split in half with one group assigned to a drop-in center and the other to a crisis shelter.

Of the kids who were assigned to the drop-in center, 80 percent of them showed up at the door, while only 18 percent of those in the shelter group showed up. Thirty-one percent of those assigned to the shelter group actually ended up visiting the drop-in center.

The drop-in center isn’t meant to replace the shelter, but to be an alternative that offers hope to the hardest-to-reach homeless youth, Slesnick said.

“Every city needs a drop-in center,” she said, noting there are only about a couple dozen throughout the country. “This is an undeserved marginalized population with few resources devoted to their problem. For most of them, a shelter is not going to solve the problem.”

Not designed to be used as residences, the centers don’t have beds, but do offer a variety of other things.

The Columbus center is open around the clock and provides food, hot showers, clothes and toothpaste and soap. Most of the young people stop in for a meal, wash their clothes and to visit.

The center includes a room for art with couches in front of a TV, a gym for basketball and a room for expectant mothers to have medical check ups.

Slesnick hopes the results from the study are enough to convince local, state and federal leaders that more money should be dedicated to drop-in centers rather than relying on shelters to help the youth, who are unlikely to use them.

As a whole, the homeless youth, all of whom had been out on the streets for at least three months before the study, wanted the support.

Regardless, if they made their visit to the center and shelter, all of the individuals were willing to meet with the adults.

The kids assigned to the drop-in center group met with their advocates an average of 17 times in six months and the shelter group met with theirs an average of 12 times.

“For some of them, having a nonjudgmental advocate in the study was the first time they’d experienced something like that. They ate it up,” Slesnick said.

Both of the groups saw improvements in areas including alcohol and drug use and depression, but the drop-in group saw greater improvements in several areas and had more contact with individuals or agencies who could provide help.

National estimates for the number of homeless youth varies widely, from 500,000 to 2 million, mainly because so many in this group are disconnected from services that could help them, so getting a good count is impossible, Slesnick said.

There is a high risk for victimization and suicide among the homeless youth and they often have mental health problems, but they can have full, productive lives if given the right opportunity and help, said Slesnick.

“We need these kids to feel empowered. We need these kids off the streets,” she said.

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