Youth Who Sleep in Motels - An Acknowledged but Unknown Population of the Hidden Homeless

• In Event: 1451 - Community and Urban Sociology Section Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 17. Structural Inequalities

Abstract

There is not one unifying definition of youth homelessness in the United States. Rather, homeless youth are included in three separate federal definitions. Youth who sleep in hotels and motels are included in these definitions depending on whether or not they are enrolled in school, their age, and how long they are able to stay. Despite federal acknowledgement, motel residents are not counted in the annual Point in Time counts in most major cities and are largely excluded from literature on homeless youth, leaving a dearth of information on their unique experiences. In addition, little is known about the needs of motel youth and how they might differ from youth staying in other temporary accommodations, especially those recognized by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This paper takes the first steps to assess if homeless youth who sleep in motels vary in any major ways from youth who reported a different sleeping location on the previous night in a 2015 survey. Findings show statistically significant relationships between one’s sleeping location and income, the presence of a substance use disorder, contact with homeless service providers, and age. The results of this paper imply that there might be important differences between homeless youth who reside in motels and those who reside in other locations.

Author

• Kara Tsukerman, Georgia State University