Four images show scenes from a young man’s life: reaching out for help, accessing temporary shelter, working at a grocery store, and getting counselling.

We are those in need of aid: Local Data on Youth Homelessness

 in United Insights  tagged Access to Services / Housing and Homelessness

Local numbers are slowly growing

Four images show scenes from a young man’s life: reaching out for help, accessing temporary shelter, working at a grocery store, and getting counselling.

Image: Microsoft Copilot/GPT-4o

This is the second of two posts addressing youth homelessness by SRPC member Cassandra Vink. Cassandra is a social policy consultant with particular expertise in housing and homelessness. She also serves on the Shelterlink Board of Directors.

The title of this post comes from the poem “We Are” by Phoebe Nana-Aubynn, a Virtual Volunteer with Youth Without Shelter.

Last time, we used national research to show the scale of youth homelessness in Canada. Now, we’ll explore local provider data to see what it looks like here in Huron and Perth.

Perth County: what the data shows

Local data for Perth County shows how many youth experiencing homelessness have connected to services. Between April 2024 and March 2025, 49 youth stayed in shelter1, 25 youth received outreach supports through Shelterlink Youth Services2, and 49 youth experiencing homelessness were known by name through the By-Name List3. (The By-Name List is a regularly updated list of people in the community who are known to be experiencing homelessness, used by local services to coordinate support and help people get housed faster.) These figures don’t represent entirely unique individuals (some youth appear in more than one part of the system), but they help illustrate the scale of youth homelessness as seen by local services. Because they include only youth known to the homelessness-serving system, they likely understate the full picture. As shown in the national data in the previous blog post, youth homelessness extends well beyond those known to the homelessness-serving system.

What’s most concerning is what we see among youth on the By-Name List. 41 were experiencing chronic homelessness and 35 had high-acuity needs, meaning that they were facing complex, urgent challenges, often involving mental health or substance use, trauma, safety risks, and other barriers, that make it hard to get and stay housed. This suggests that many young people are remaining homeless far too long and will need intensive, coordinated supports (not just a housing placement) to stabilize and maintain housing.

Twelve youth identified as Indigenous, about one quarter of youth known by name, despite Indigenous youth making up only about 2% of Perth County’s youth ages 15-244. That’s an overrepresentation of roughly ten-fold, underscoring the need for Indigenous-led and culturally safe responses developed in partnership with Indigenous organizations. In a region without an Indigenous Friendship Centre or First Nations community, this means proactively establishing partnerships with Indigenous-led networks, and with Indigenous partners beyond local boundaries, to support Indigenous-led, culturally safe design and delivery.

Taken together, these findings point to urgent priorities: stronger youth-specific rehousing supports to prevent youth homelessness from becoming chronic, more intensive supports to help youth find and maintain housing, and a clearer commitment to Indigenous-led and culturally safe approaches.

Over the April 2024 to March 2025 period, 25 youth on the By-Name List moved into housing, 22 youth were newly identified, and 8 youth returned to homelessness after being housed. That flow tells an important story: even when youth are housed, a portion are not staying housed, ultimately leading to a slowly growing backlog of youth who still need housing support. It’s a sign that our interventions need to do better, not just at securing housing placements, but at making those placements work.

As of November 30, 2025, 11 youth on the By-Name List were actively experiencing homelessness in Perth County. The priority now is to reduce inflow, speed up exits, and strengthen follow-along supports so youth can stay housed.

Huron County: what the data shows

As in Perth County, local numbers for Huron County show that youth homelessness is growing and episodes of homelessness are lasting too long. In 2024–2025, Huron Safe Homes served 81 youth aged 16–17, including 3 youth who accessed emergency housing5. In addition, By-Name List data shows that between April 2024 and March 2025, 25 youth were known by name to the broader homelessness response system6. These groups overlap only partially, since relatively few youth served by Huron Safe Homes are referred to the By-Name List.

What stands out is the level of chronicity and need among those 25 youth. Twenty-two were experiencing chronic homelessness and 11 had high-acuity needs, suggesting that timely rehousing is being constrained by gaps in youth-appropriate housing and a lack of intensive supports to help youth stabilize and sustain housing. Five of those 25 youth identified as Indigenous, which is deeply disproportionate given that Indigenous youth represent only about 3% of Huron County youth7. This stark overrepresentation raises concerns about inequities and reinforces the need for supports developed with Indigenous parters. In both counties, advancing Indigenous-led responses will require intentionally building partnerships.

The inflow and outflow patterns reinforce the same message: the system is not able to respond quickly enough with housing and the right supports. Between April 2024 and March 2025, 6 youth moved into housing while 19 youth were newly identified on the By-Name List. This gap suggests a growing backlog and highlights the need for more youth-appropriate housing options and stronger rehousing and follow-along supports so youth can exit homelessness sooner and avoid becoming chronic. Fewer youth were housed in Huron than in Perth over the same period, pointing to a lower-funded, capacity-constrained response, with less subsidized housing available and a lower level of funded supports.

As of November 30, 2025, the By-Name List showed 11 youth were actively experiencing homelessness in Huron County. Although Perth County shows the same point-in-time number on the same date, this snapshot can mask differences in inflow and outflow, service reach, and the level of chronicity and acuity among youth who are known to the system. Once again, this number likely underestimates the true scale of youth homelessness locally. Limited shelter capacity and potentially higher service disengagement can mean fewer young people are captured in local “known” data. In Huron County, disengagement may be higher among youth, particularly young adults (18+), where there are gaps in youth-specific services and supports, reducing service fit and making it less likely they will seek help through the formal system. Some youth also leave rural areas to seek safety, services, and a stronger sense of community elsewhere. This can be especially true for 2SLGBTQ+ youth, who may relocate to places where they feel more accepted and connected, as well as better supported.

Overall, Perth County’s data reflect higher system contact among youth and more complex support needs. Perth is housing youth at roughly the same pace as new inflow, but the high levels of chronicity and acuity indicate more complex support needs and a strong need for sustained follow-along supports. In contrast, Huron County’s housing exits are not keeping pace with new inflow, contributing to a growing backlog and reinforcing the need to strengthen rehousing capacity and youth-appropriate housing options.

How do we address youth homelessness?

Youth homelessness requires a different response than adult homelessness. Young people are still developing socially, emotionally, and economically, and need supports that reflect this reality. Many are finishing school, building basic life skills, and learning how to manage money, relationships, and health, often without stable adults to lean on. They may not have rental history, credit, a steady income, or the documents needed to sign a lease, and they can be more vulnerable to exploitation or unsafe relationships when they don’t have somewhere to go. That’s why effective responses need to be youth-specific: safe and welcoming entry points, rapid pathways to housing, and supports that continue after move-in to help housing “stick.” While all youth are still developing, youth experiencing homelessness are trying to do that while they’re also coping with trauma, disruption, and the absence of consistent support, so they may need additional, longer-term supports to catch up and successfully transition to adulthood.

Current best practices include:

  • Prevention (family mediation where safe, planned transitions from care, early mental health supports)
  • Diversion (safe alternatives to shelter when appropriate)
  • Housing + supports (Housing First for Youth, rapid rehousing, supportive/transitional housing)
  • Integrated youth-centred systems (culturally safe, identity-affirming, focused on stability).

Moving forward

Youth homelessness in Huron and Perth is real, persistent, and often hidden. And because homelessness early in life can shape a young person’s health, stability, and opportunities for years to come, it’s not an issue we can afford to treat as temporary or inevitable. Preventing youth homelessness, and responding quickly when it happens, requires a youth-centred approach that is coordinated across housing, child welfare, health, education, and community supports.

The path forward is clear: invest earlier, respond faster, and support youth longer. That means strengthening prevention and family supports where safe, expanding youth-appropriate housing and rehousing pathways, and ensuring follow-along supports are in place so young people can keep their housing and avoid cycling back into homelessness. It also means building stronger partnerships with Indigenous organizations and 2SLGBTQ+-affirming supports so responses are culturally safe, inclusive, and grounded in community. With focused investment and shared accountability, Huron and Perth can shorten time spent homeless, reduce inflow, and help more young people move into adulthood with stability, safety, and real opportunity.

If you’re part of a school, faith group, service club, or employer, consider:

  • Partnering with youth-serving agencies
  • Supporting host homes and landlord engagement
  • Funding or volunteering for prevention and follow-along supports
  • Advocating for youth-appropriate housing supply and supports

Small actions add up, especially when they’re coordinated with the youth-serving organizations already doing the work.

These posts coincide with Coldest Night of the Year, “a winterrific family-friendly fundraising walk in support of local charities serving people experiencing hurt, hunger, and homelessness.” Coldest Night of the Year was held on February 28, 2026, in six locations across Huron-Perth, raising funds for various local charities including Shelterlink, regional Connection Centres, and other homelessness programs. Funds continue to be raised until March 31.

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Citations:

  1. Data provided by Shelterlink Youth Services
  2. Data provided by Shelterlink Youth Services
  3. Data provided by the City of Stratford. On Perth County’s By-Name List youth is inclusive of individuals aged 16-24.
  4. Statistics Canada. (2022). Indigenous Population Profile: Perth, County [Census division], Ontario. 2021 Census of Population. Government of Canada. https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/ipp-ppa/index.cfm?Lang=E
  5. Data provided by Huron Safe Homes for Vink Consulting, Youth Service Mapping report, prepared on behalf of the Huron-Perth Children’s Aid Society, July 2025
  6. Data provided by the County of Huron. On Huron County’s By-Name List youth is inclusive of individuals aged 16-25.
  7. Statistics Canada. (2022). Indigenous Population Profile: Huron, County [Census division], Ontario. 2021 Census of Population. Government of Canada. https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/ipp-ppa/index.cfm?Lang=E