Foreclosure, rising fuel and food prices, all those economic hardships put a stress on life at home. In fact, ever since the recession began, the experts are seeing a rising number of young people running away from home for a life on the streets.
Chad just turned 18. He lives outside of Reading, Berks County, but not in one place for very long. Chad has run away from home.
"I try and avoid my house. I figure it's better for all of us," Chad told Action News.
Chad's father died when he was 7. He gets about $800 a month in social security payments. He says his mother and her boyfriend require him to give them most of that money, $700 a month, to help pay for household expenses.
"I guess she had a bunch of bills, they claim. They were trying to pay that off and stuff. Plus, they got a house, and they have other bills to pay," Chad said.
Chad told Action News the financial situation at home got even tougher when the economy took a turn.
"Yeah, it kind of got worse, money wise. Food, we didn't have as much food as we used to have," Chad said.
He says he is trying to save every penny because he is determined to attend the community college where he's already been accepted.
"It's definitely hard to try and focus on, but yeah, I am definitely trying to go to college," Chad said.
He goes from house to house, sofa to sofa, and will even sleep outdoors, saying, "You're always old enough to buy a tent, and I bought a tent the other day, just in case I need it."
From cities to suburbs, shelters and youth homeless organizations are dealing with more teenagers running away because of economic hardship at home.
In the last 7 years, the National Runaway Switchboard has seen an increase of more than 300-percent in crisis calls in which a teenager cites an economic reason for running away. The bulk of that increase happened from 2006 to 2008, at the height of the economic crisis.
Beth Rothermel who runs the Pennsylvania Homeless Children's Initiative in Berks County talks about the domino effect.
"We have kids that because of the financial situation in the country, the parents are more stressed. More stress is going on at home, and it's increasing parent-child conflicts," Rothermel said. "The kids are deciding not to be a part of the situation and leaving on their own accord a lot of times."
At the Youth Emergency Shelter in North Philadelphia, young runaways are turning up from all across the country.
16-year-old Toya showed up at the shelter after getting arrested for stealing from a supermarket to feed herself and her seven siblings.
"Life here is better than being homeless. It beats being homeless. You eat. They make sure you have three meals a day," Toya said.
Each week, shelter employees hit the streets of the city in search of runaways or homeless kids who may need help.
As for Chad, he graduates from high school in a few weeks and remains determined to get his college degree even if it means sleeping on friends' sofas or even on the street.
"Pretty much you just got to stay strong and keep your head high," Chad said.
We found many of the teenagers we talked to do want to stay in school.
It's a safe place and a haven from the chaos of the streets or even life at home.
Here are links and numbers to use if you know of a young person who needs help or you want to help:
PA Homeless Children's Initiative: www.berksiu.org or call 610-987-8370
Driven, Inc: www.drivengeneration.org
