RSYE Fact Sheet

RSYE Fact Sheet

Who are street-involved youth?

Street-involved youth generally share the following characteristics:

	they have a strained or nonexistent relationship with their families
	they lack stable housing
	they have dropped out of school
	they are out of work and have few job skills
	they live on social assistance or on alternative (sometimes illegal) sources of income
	some have criminal records

There are at least 300 street-involved youth on the streets of Ottawa at any one time, mostly living in the downtown core. This population appears to be growing. Although they may now live in the downtown core, they come from all over the city (and the country), and from all types of family backgrounds.

We estimate that only about 50% of street-involved youth now qualify for social assistance (because of the changes to regulations). With few opportunities for work, more youth are turning to activities such as squeegeeing and panhandling, as well as to illegal activities such as prostitution and crime, as a way to earn money to support themselves.

There has been an alarming increase in numbers of pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS among street-involved youth (partly as side effects of the prostitution involvement) since Fall 1995.

Most street-involved youth want to work legitimately and get off of social assistance. RSYE's experience over the last three years demonstrates that most street youth, when given the opportunity and the support, would rather work legitimately than turn to crime. The youth face significant barriers to getting off the street, however: lack of formal education; lack of work experience; unstable personal situations.

next page