Most homeless youth in Los Angeles are Latino, according to data released by Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority on Thursday.

The agency reported that 42.1% of the homeless youth in Los Angeles were Latino, 38.2% were Black, 14.6% were white and other ethnicities made up the rest.

Latino people make up a big portion of the Los Angeles population as well, at 48.5%. Meanwhile, white people make up 26.3% of the county and Black people make up just 7.9%.

LAHSA Executive Director Heidi Marston said that compared to the overall homeless population, there was a profile for the younger people without homes.

They are more likely to be women, Black, Latino or identify as LGBT, said an NBC Los Angles report. Marston added that these groups are less like to have a substance abuse issue or mental health illness.

Upward Trend to Los Angeles Homeless Youth

In general, there is an upward trend to Los Angeles' homeless youth population.

From 4,021 in 2019, the reported homeless youth population in the county rose to 4,775 this year. His accounts for an increase of more than 18.5%, a Los Angeles Daily News report said.

The count was conducted between January 22 and January 31. The agency pegged the age for homeless youth at people 24 years old or younger.

Fox LA noted that most of the youth that LAHSA counted were in the transitional age, between 18 and 24 years old.

Marston found it "unacceptable" that many are falling homeless in the county despite their efforts to serve them.

"The key to preventing young people from reaching the point where they require our services is to continue the work on bringing together the different systems that touch their lives," she said. The places she believed needed development were the foster system and probation to workforce development.

Most Come from Foster Systems

LAHSA found that most of the homeless youth in the county come from the foster system.

"A high percentage of youth were involved with foster care and justice systems before becoming homeless," Marston said.

With this information, Marston is thinking of fostering stronger partnerships with foster care systems.

Marston added that the agency is also making efforts to expand its host program for people to provide temporary housing for the youth. She said the agency is currently working with some housing representatives at 21 local Los Angeles area community colleges.

These were areas noted to have a large number of student housing insecurity.

Marston wanted to make sure that agencies are highly involved with the homeless youth, noting that the existing system is already built on such a foundation.

Other Reasons for Youth Homelessness

According to the agency's survey, 61% of the young homeless said they are homeless due to problems with money and 44% of them said their social network had deteriorated.

LAHSA also reported that 7.7% of them were pushed to their situation due to domestic violence, with most of them being women.

LAHSA said it is expecting more young people to become homeless due to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But they added that they have been giving permanent supportive housing to more people compared to past years.

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