All homelessness is shocking. Every time you pass a kid who lives on the street, you can imagine the potential that is being lost. It is especially heartbreaking to see the youngest of these kids, those who are only 12 or 15 or 17, who should be home with families that are instead unwilling or unable to guide them through their adolescent years.

Kids who are 18 years old or younger and living on the streets experience the same risks and challenges as the older clients served by Larkin Street Youth Services, but they have different needs because of their young age. The first thing anyone on the streets needs is a safe place to sleep. Young people need shelter among others of their own age, under the care of stable adults. Larkin Street Youth Services offers them this respite at our Diamond Youth Shelter.

The Diamond Youth Shelter is an emergency shelter. It is considered temporary not because the kids will be returning to the street, but because staff can help them either to reunite with family or to find an appropriate alternative. We provide youth with a bed, food, new clothes, showers, laundry services, lockers and crisis counseling. Staff members stabilize the youth by providing these basic necessities and then encourage them to access other services at the Drop-In Center.

Kids often access Diamond late at night during a crisis situation. When a kid first comes to the Shelter, Larkin Street staff conduct an individual intake to determine that all of his or her immediate needs are identified and met. Counselors can then contact parents or guardians to assure them of the child’s safety and to determine whether reunification is a possibility.

Diamond Youth Shelter is more than just a warm bed for the youngest kids on the streets of our city. It is their launching pad for healthy and productive futures.

• Each year, Diamond Youth Shelter provides shelter to approximately 100 homeless and runaway youth who are 18 or younger.

• In 2009, Larkin Street completed an ambitious capital campaign to rebuild the shelter. The new facility offers youth a more vibrant, youth-friendly, and welcoming place to secure their futures.

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