The average age in Washington, D.C. shelters, is in the low 30s, area service providers say. As a result, most services there are aimed at adults who have an employment history, chronic health issues and family problems involving their own children and partners.

However, there is a growing population well below this age, with little experience on the streets and little help available for its specific needs. These are the adolescents, “sofa surfing” through Washington.

“We have young people who are homeless [in other areas], but not the multitudes that we have here in DC,” said Darryl Sanders, director of outreach at Sasha Bruce Youthwork. “It has a lot to do with the medical system here, the school system, the lack of services that are available to young people. It’s really a tough situation to be homeless, and to be an adolescent is even worse.”

Millicent Ugo, the program coordinator for Latin American Youth Center’s (LAYC) Transitional Living Program, has also seen this adolescent phenomenon. She moved here from New York, and said the youth homeless problem is “more noticeable.”

According to experts at a 2006 Community Summit on Youth and Homelessness sponsored by Stand Up for Kids, the primary cause of homelessness among youth is family issues, including sexuality issues, physical and mental abuse, and the lack of a stable family.

Experts at the Summit said the current foster care program in Washington is unreliable, and does not offer children the social services they need. They cited a study showing that more than half of the youths interviewed during shelter stays reported that their parents either told them to leave or knew they were leaving and did not care.

Just how many older youths are homeless?

Members of all of the organizations represented at the Summit agreed that statistics on youth homelessness in Washington, DC are inaccurate, in part because many of them drift from one place to another and often stay with others.

“Young people in the Washington metro area are not sleeping under bridges or in bus stations, they are sleeping on someone’s couch” said Joseph Williams, director of street and community outreach at Covenant House Washington.

It is a phenomenon that Williams refers to as “sofa surfing,” moving from house to house and sleeping on friends’ couches.

When a young person does seek traditional shelter space, options are quite limited. There are only around 85 beds for adolescents in all of the Washington area. Funding has been approved for another 80-plus beds, but still there are not enough.

“That’s the main immediate crisis,” Sanders said. “[We need] more beds and more housing for a variety of young people.”

Williams said these independent youths need shelter separate from the main adult shelters since they have different needs. He added that most people in these shelters have spent time on the street and are street savvy and often take advantage of younger people in shelters.

“Adults have learned certain survival techniques that adolescents have not. So while homeless adults are still homeless, they, in my opinion, have a better support mechanism or better way of surviving simply because they are adults,” Sanders said. “Young people don’t have that. They don’t have any support. They don’t have any experience that they can fall back on.”

This problem is particularly challenging for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth, many of whom are kicked out of their homes. The Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL) is the only organization specifically for LGBTQ youth in the Washington area.

Homeless LGBTQ youth typically experience more problems due to their sexual orientation. Many have faced harassment in schools and/or homes, and placing them in other shelters may not be safe. Experts from other Washington youth homeless organizations, including Sasha Bruce and Latin American Youth Center, agree that specialized housing is one aspect in need of great attention.

Direct outreach is a key aspect of combating youth homelessness. Organizations like Covenant House Washington, Sasha Bruce Youthwork and Latin American Youth Center rely on outreach programs to target adolescents who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. They say it is crucial to work directly in the streets, on foot and with vans, to build a relationship with adolescents.

There are currently a handful of organizations offering programs to homeless youth in Washington, ranging from emergency shelters to residential and independent living programs.

Sasha Bruce Youthwork offers five residential programs that are always full -- the Sasha Bruce House (Washington’s only 24 hour emergency shelter for runaway and homeless youth), an independent living program, a transitional living program and two programs for teenage mothers — in addition to other non-residential programs.

The Covenant House Washington works with youths through a short term crisis center and a transitional living program available for up to 18 months. Specialists work directly on the streets for 14 hours a day to develop relationships with adolescents on the street.

Latin American Youth Center is the only shelter in Washington with a completely bilingual staff. They offer an emergency shelter and an independent living program. The programs run by each organization include counseling services to help residents find a more stable, permanent living situation, as well as training for jobs.

Still, these organizations agree that more needs to be done for homeless youths. At the Summit the leaders of these providers and others called for more space in residential programs at all youth shelters. They also agreed that city funding is necessary to provide services for youth so that they can ultimately support themselves.

They said that these changes will come as people become more aware of the homeless youth problem the area.

“I think overall people don’t realize how serious the homeless issue is in DC, particularly for adolescents,” Sanders said.