Campaign to Support Safe Harbour Transitional Youth Services

Safe Harbour Transitional Youth Services (Safe Harbour), through collaboration with community partners and youth, will provide emergency and transitional housing to homeless and at-risk youth. Safe Harbour is a direct response to the crisis in youth homelessness in southern New Brunswick; there is currently NO emergency or transitional housing program for youth. As a result homeless youth are left on the streets, or in unsafe situations, while they try to get their lives on track. Homeless and at-risk youth need specific supports; adult shelters and services aren’t appropriate. The recently published book Youth Homelessness in Canada: Implications for Policy and Practice explains that: “...while many, if not most, adults who are homeless will have had some experience with independent living this is not the case for most homeless youth. Few leave home with knowledge of how to rent and maintain an apartment, find a job (especially one that isn’t a dead-end, minimum wage job), stay in school, buy and prepare food, pay bills and even arrange medical appointments. On top of all this, many if not most young people who become homeless are working through the challenges of adolescent development... We understand that for most young people this can be a slow and arduous process, lasting years. For those who become homeless, however, there is usually no time or the necessary supports in place to allow this development to occur in a safe and supported way…Our understanding of youth homelessness must necessarily be framed in terms of the challenges of adolescence and young adulthood.” Safe Harbour will get youth off the streets by provide an emergency housing program as part of a youth-serving continuum in collaboration with The Resource Center for Youth (TRC), which has case management and day-support programs, and The ONE LIFE program, which offers longer-term housing and education supports. For some youth, Safe Harbour will be the first point of entry into a long-term, service-delivery model that will give them the supports they need as they make the transition from adolescence to adulthood.