More immigrant teenagers are homeless in Edmonton, hit by the city's skyrocketing rents while also struggling to work part-time jobs, learn English and recover from war-related stress, say social agencies.
The 16 beds in Edmonton's youth emergency shelter are always filled.
(CBC)
More than 60 teenage immigrants went to the city's Youth Emergency Shelter looking for beds so far this year, more than double the 25 who needed help last year.
"Parents are having a hard time even affording their own housing and they're getting a one-bedroom, two-bedroom when they need three or four. So what's happening is sometimes the teenager is the one who's having to find their own way," said Louise Hovelson, a shelter manager.
"As the children get older, the parents can no longer afford to keep those children at home. They ask them to leave," said Lynn Smarsh who teaches English to immigrants at St. Joseph's High School.
Khalib Baraka, one of Smarsh's students, fled civil war in his home country of Sudan with his brother 18 months ago. He now juggles learning English with a part-time job.
Khalib Baraka works part-time three days a week to pay for rent for an apartment he shares with a friend.
(CBC)
"It's difficult for me to do homework after 9 o'clock because I go to work three days of the week," Baraka said.
Most of the money he earns goes to paying the monthly $1,000 rent for his shared small apartment where the heat doesn't work. Baraka is struggling but said he knows he's lucky to still have a roof over his head.
His classmate, Farozan Majboor, said she's seeing more and more young immigrants going to the youth shelter.
"They're going and they have lots of problems," she said.
The shelter is hiring a youth worker to help the rising number of newcomers who have survived refugee camps or war zones and are coming with a range of problems staff aren't used to dealing with.
"We're seeing a lot of youth struggle with post traumatic stress, huge struggle with social issues, fitting into Canadian cultural and what that looks like," said Brad Pickford, a shelter supervisor.
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