It’s a Luxury Just to Survive in Boston: The City’s High Rent Pushes Young Adults into Homelessness
The average cost of rent in Boston is at least $3,000 right now. Think about that. It’s not a realistic number at all for us homeless young adults ages 18-24 who do not have a stable roof and are still struggling to figure out how we’ll get to permanent housing. People in this age group are usually still figuring themselves out and don’t have a well-established work history. Add homelessness to the mix, and survival becomes a complete challenge from worrying constantly about having enough money just to keep a roof over your head. We 18-24 year olds are very much a vulnerable, forgotten age group. We are just discovering what we want to do after high school and/or college, and dealing with the real world is already a challenge. It’s basically impossible with little to no money. This age range is prone to a lack of guidance on how to live independently, and when you’re homeless, it’s much harder trying to learn about what are considered basic adulting tasks. How do I get my own place? What are the best ways to save money? How much should I ideally save up before renting? It would be a lifesaver to have adulting hotlines to ask questions or a physical one-stop-shop kind of place where we can talk one-on-one with advisors on how to navigate life independently and get a personalized plan for each of us; trying to learn from the Internet can be very overwhelming and confusing. We would benefit from these advisors teaching us responsibilities like how to manage bank accounts, pay different bills, get a place, and connect us to employment aligned with our interests.
Phrases like You’re an adult now, figure it out yourself! are very insensitive, especially to us homeless young adults who desperately need that extra support. Some of us don’t even have readily available Internet access to help us learn things, and almost everyone has a smartphone these days to do everything. Since it’s extremely difficult for us to secure a place, it takes a long time to save to get one, even more so because a lot of us do not have steady employment and are still in the starter stages with building work skills.
This brings me back to the cost just to survive in Boston. It’s not surprising that Boston’s average rent has been on the higher side, given it’s a major city where a lot of financially established people live, but it hasn’t always been this bad, and it shouldn’t be this bad to begin with. Rent is a basic necessity, and now it’s like only the richest people there can afford it. The future is looking incredibly rough for young adults looking forward to settle here. Boston is ideal for young adults because it’s filled with amazing social and job opportunities in both quantity and quality, but the cost of living easily holds us back from living there comfortably because we have to ask ourselves questions like, Do I even have enough money to pay rent this month? What if my landlord raises the cost? Shelters can be very crowded. Would I even get a bed every night in a shelter?
Not to mention, many homeless people have current mental health issues, especially depression and trauma. I personally chose homelessness to leave my emotionally abusive family. I’m lucky to have a safe roof over my head every day right now, but my housing situation is currently unstable. Although my depressive symptoms have gone down a lot from being away from them, just knowing I am technically homeless and still healing from my upbringing does make it difficult sometimes to feel optimistic about my future. I’m at an all-time high from leaving my family, but also at an all-time low from not having stable housing. I want to use my individual experience here as an example to apply to homeless young adults as a population because it can be very hard to feel motivated and positive when we are already fighting our own battles. And for some of us, moving back in with family or staying with friends are not options, leaving us to fend for ourselves.
BAY-CASH can help put aside $1200/month and one $3,000 upfront payment for renting a safe apartment or room in Boston with reasonable amenities for young adults getting out of homelessness. These apartments/rooms are perfect for us after living in shelters, transitional housing, or both because they are great starters for us to enter the world of renting. We homeless youth finally get a place we call our home. These steady monthly payments give us the power of feeling secure, knowing we get to keep that roof over our heads. But it doesn’t stop there. Besides the money, each person has the opportunity for one-on-one attention to our needs through support from staff on financial management, how to communicate with landlords and roommates, and maintaining independent living. It’s quite rare for organizations to be so attentive to homeless people, more specifically to homeless youth, and there simply are not enough resources out there yet that cater to us. BAY-CASH is the breath of fresh air we need to help us on the path to stability and out of homelessness. It is here to help us get to permanent housing by listening to real homeless youth’s voices and seeing the problems through our lenses.
