The Nine Categories for How Children Live in Los Angeles

My daughter goes to a Performing Arts High School in Los Angeles. At the beginning of each school year, we must feel out a form describing our living situation.

The options they list include:

Temporarily Doubled Up – Sharing housing with another family DUE TO financial hardship.

Temporarily Doubled Up – Sharing housing with another family NOT DUE TO financial hardship.

Temporary Shelters

Temporarily Unsheltered – Car, park, campground, RV

Hotel or Motel

Permanent Housing – A residence that is owned, rented or sublet (apartment, condo, house)

Resource Home – A licensed family residency or awaiting placement (formerly called Foster Family Home)

Short-Term Residential Therapeutic Program (STRTP) Residential Facility that’s Licensed by the State (Group Home)

Unaccompanied Youth – Not in the physical custody of a parent or court-appointed guardian

On the following page, there are several boxes, and a request to check all that apply: Foster, Homeless, Migrant, Runaway.

It’s a wake-up call when we fill this out, as we realize that but for the grace of God, go we. There are nine categories. Only one is for what people consider a typical living situation.

Each of these situations happen enough in Los Angeles that they each deserve their own category.  One quarter of all children born in Los Angeles are poor. 65,000 people in Los Angeles are homeless. Between 4.600 and 8,000 of them are under the age of 24.

Many children go to school simply to get the free lunch. They would go hungry otherwise.

This is the truth of life in Los Angeles. It’s enough to drive a kid crazy, and it often does.

We can do something. Vote. Volunteer.

https://calyouth.org/advocacy-policy/californias-homeless-youth/