Crisis of Youth Homelessness in Birmingham, Alabama

The economic and educational conditions of Jefferson County, Alabama, have contributed significantly to the increase of homeless families with children (LaGory et al., 2018). The failures of the foster care system have exponentially increased the population of homeless youth ages 19 to 26 (Burge et al., 2021). The lack of efficient public transportation emergency and affordable long-term housing has created a permanent population of homelessness (Kelly, 2020). Within the homeless culture, the increased incidents of violence, substance abuse, and sexual and physical abuse combined with functional illiteracy create an environment that breeds repetitive behaviors that reproduce the homeless outcomes (Burge et al., 2021). This dissertation-in-praxis will provide a window into the cultural and systemic causes that exacerbate the homeless condition in Birmingham’s youth as viewed by the Youth Towers’ staff. The legal termination of segregation by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 created an exodus to the suburbs as a haven for those desiring homogeneous communities (LaGory et al., 2018). Subsequently, the infrastructure that supports thriving communities, such as successful schools, adequate public transportation, neighborhood job sources for youth, and extracurricular activities, has been dismantled (Garson, 2005). Ultimately, the infrastructure provides few options for citizens experiencing stressful life events to stop the downward spiral of the economic conditions that lead to homelessness (Hall, 2023). This dissertation-in-praxis identified gaps in services and political systems that, if amended, could reduce such incidences and create a path to stability that would result in ending the pipeline to homelessness among the city’s youth.