Waitlisted for a Future: Navigating Housing Insecurity in a High-Cost City

For young adults going through homelessness like me, it definitely wasn’t easy finding youth-specific resources where I could relate to others my age in similar situations. It didn’t help that I didn’t have an established work history.

Many of us young adults suffering through housing insecurity do not come from functional, supportive family backgrounds, and we end up stuck with them for longer than we should because we do not know where else to go. Being stuck in this situation puts us in survival mode as we struggle to find out how to leave. At the other extreme, some young adults also get kicked out, leaving them with nowhere else to go.

When I decided to leave my family, that was when I could finally think about planning out my future without their insecurities and tension in the way. While I will always be thankful for that women’s program director for driving me away from my family’s house, I think about other young adults who are still with their toxic families; it is just so challenging to find the right resources.

I was safely living in a local young women’s program before I came to Boston, but finding that one program wasn’t easy because it wasn’t well-known, and it also wasn’t a typical homelessness shelter as I had my own room. In fact, I didn’t want a typical shelter situation where you have to line up every night for a bed and share a crowded room with little to no privacy with strangers. My biggest fear was finding myself in a dangerous situation much worse than my family, and ending up seriously hurt physically. I knew I had to be extra careful since I’m female, given that unstably housed women are at a much higher risk of being assaulted.

I eventually moved to Boston because I lacked a job history and felt the city would give me much better opportunities to connect with people. I also thought it would be very beneficial for me at my age, being in my early 20s. When I started Launchpad with Breaktime, it was the ultimate stepping stone for me and I felt like I won the lottery. I needed a strong support system of professionals who worked with vulnerable youth and were there to empower us.

But even when I first moved to Boston, my housing situation still wasn’t stable and the place I was briefly staying in Dorchester wasn’t my own. At that time, I was also nervously waiting to get my spot at Liberty Village, a young adult shelter in the Roxbury area. This is where I currently live and am in the process of getting permanent housing. I’m also glad to have my own room here, but getting to this point is very rare for young adults without getting support first.

Although Boston is a blossoming city, surviving here is difficult due to the high cost of living. It’s already so hard for the average stably-housed person to save up here to cover the rent, and when you consider that many vulnerable young adults have little to no work experience, it’s not something we can simply take care of all by ourselves. We are desperately in need of help to guide us in the right directions. Yet, the lack of resources for young adults going through homelessness makes us feel alone, painfully waiting to get out of housing instability. It can often feel like we’re an invisible population crying out for help. And given Boston's high population, the resources for housing insecure young adults that do exist tend to get saturated with clients. There’s nothing worse than waitlists, delaying the process of getting the help you need right away, which often worsens the issue of homelessness.

When someone hears about housing-insecure individuals, they usually don’t think about our age group and they assume people experiencing homelessness look a certain way, or that we all live on the streets. The reality is many young adults do not come from functional family backgrounds, and we are trying to reclaim our lives fast. We need more understanding and customized one-on-one support like what Breaktime offers. Young adults experiencing homelessness can break the stigmas and get on a path to financial security. We just need a little help to get there.

*The author's name has been changed to protect their privacy.