Still without shelter

This report offers the opportunity to identify the range of difficulties that these individuals face, with the intention of identifying areas in which we may be able to provide service, and thus, in the long run, assist these individuals in reaching their full potential within supportive environments free from the harms of living on the streets. [...] Although there has been some interest in the plight of Canada’s homeless youth, much of the work to date is descriptive, trying to describe their current situation with a goal to identify precursors of their life on the street and some of the consequences (e.g., drug addiction and disease). [...] A person may become involved in the sex trade out of need for food or shelter and drugs are used to cope with a negative self-image and the reality of the situation. [...] If the answer to the most common symptoms was “no” then the youth was assessed as not having the specific disorder and the interviewer moved on to the next module. [...] Of those who “sometimes” drink, 23% of males and 12% of females had their first drink of alcohol before the age of 11.