Risk Factors

In Michigan, an estimated 5,000 youth sleep on the streets any given night.

According to the United States Census, just 8.6% of Michigan's total population lives in Detroit. However, according to the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, the city is home to over 40% of the State's runaway and homeless youth.

In 2000, Wayne State University's Research Group on Homelessness and Poverty in Detroit estimated that 1,031 homeless youth under age 18 and about 1,000 homeless youth ages 18 to 22 lived in the Detroit metropolitan area.

Due to the local social, political, and economic environment, Detroit has become a breeding ground for a wide range of problems, including poverty, educational underachievement, breakdown of family, abuse, residential instability, mental illness and substance abuse, all of which contribute to the unstable lifestyles, home environments, and relationships that in turn can cause youth to run away, become separated from their families through the "system," or become homeless.

Few shelter options are available to runaway homeless youth in Detroit. The combined total of crisis beds dedicated to youth ages 13-22 in Detroit is about 90 beds (to serve a population of youth that numbers at least 2,000). Forty-five of these crisis beds are here at CHM.