Honey / 2 Senator Haynes

S.W._____

A BILL
To protect homeless youth up to the age of eighteen and ensure them stable futures by providing federal funding to
states for homeless organizations that provide mental and physical health resources.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE
This act may be cited as the Homeless Youth Protection Act of 2015.
SECTION 2. FINDINGS
Congress hereby finds and declares that,
1) About eighty percent of homeless youth (aged twelve to twenty one) use drugs or alcohol as a means to selfmedicate to deal with the traumatic experiences and abuse they face.
2) During a year approximately fifty five hundred thousand unaccompanied, single youth and young adults up to age
twenty four experience a homelessness episode of longer than one week. Approximately thirty eight hundred
thousand of those youth are under the age of eighteen.
3) Children without stable homes are more than twice as likely as others to repeat a school grade, be expelled or
suspended, or drop out of high school.
4) Forty to sixty percent of all homeless youth have experienced physical abuse, and between seventeen to thirty five
percent have experienced sexual abuse.
5) Twenty eight percent of youth living on the street and ten percent of those in shelters engage in 'survival sex' in
exchange for food, shelter or money.
6) Forty six percent of runaway and homeless youth reported being physically abused, thirty eight percent reported
being emotionally abused , and seventeen percent reported being forced into unwanted sexual activity by a family or
household member.
7)The major reasons homeless youth cite for remaining homeless include lack of affordable housing options,
incomplete education, inaccessible job market, and on-going drug use.
8)Youth consistently report severe family conflict as the primary reason for their homelessness.
9) Homeless youth are at a greater risk of contracting Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) or Human
Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) -related illnesses.
10)A majority of homeless youth reside in shelters or "sofa surf' with multiple acquaintances, a subpopulation of
youth referred to as street youth spend a significant amount of time living on the streets or in inappropriate locations,
such as abandoned buildings, cars, or under bridges.
11) Homeless youth are three times more likely to use marijuana, and eighteen times more likely to use crack cocaine
than non-homeless youth.
12) A mere nine percent of [all] homeless youth [have] accessed mental health services.
13) Over fifty percent of young people in shelters and on the streets report that their parents told them to leave or
knew they were leaving and didn't care.
14) Suicide is the leading cause of death among street youth.
SECTION 3. STATUTORY LANGUAGE
A) The Homeless Youth Protection Act will provide permanent mental and physical resources for homeless persons
ages zero to eighteen. This bill shall provide one million dollars for every one thousand homeless youth per state
once a year to fund said resources.The Department of Health and Human Services will serve as the administrator and
distribute funds to schools, Young Mens Christian Association (YMCA), Salvation Army, Boys and Girls Club, Bill
Wilson Center, My Friends Place, and homeless shelters to fund their organizations.
B) The Department of Health and Human Services is the administrating agency and funding will be allocated from
Department of Defense budget.
C) States that do not adhere to this law will be fined five hundred thousand dollars annually with an increase of
twenty five percent each year along with an annual re-evaluation. This act shall be enacted May 1, 2016.