Youth Without Shelter

About Youth Without Shelter:

Youth Without Shelter (YWS) works with homeless youth aged 16 to 24, providing emergency shelter and programs to empower clients to live independently. It was founded in 1986 by a group of teachers and guidance counsellors frustrated with the lack of safe emergency housing and support programs for homeless students.

In F2018, Youth Without Shelter’s residential program received 46% of program spending. There are 33 emergency shelter beds available each night. The program provides shelter, counselling, regular meals, clothing and personal hygiene products to the youth. In F2018, YWS provided 59,305 meals/snacks and 4,929 one-on-one counselling sessions.

In F2018, 29% of program spending was allocated to Stay in School. YWS recognizes that homeless youth often leave school and that having limited education is a significant disadvantage in life. The program has 20 beds, providing a stable living environment, clothing, hygiene products, nutritious food, and counselling to enable youth to succeed. Students can also access tutoring, computers, and school supplies.

YWS allocated 8% of spending to housing and after-care programs in F2018. The charity works to place clients in stable housing to avoid them becoming homeless again. In F2018, 70 youth were moved into permanent housing and the charity hosted 1,104 after-care meetings to deliver continued support.

Of the remaining program spending in F2018, 5% was allocated to teaching clients life skills, 5% to coordinating volunteers, 3% to outreach, and 3% to finding employment for clients.

Youth Without Shelter has the goal of helping 500 youth exit homelessness into stable housing between 2019 and 2024.

Results and Impact:

Of participants in the Stay in School program, YWS reports that 47% improved their problem-solving skills, 52% increased listening, 55% improved communication, and 51% learned to better cope with issues. Eight students from the program graduated in F2018.

Through the employment programs, 54 clients were able to find jobs.

Charity Intelligence has analyzed Youth Without Shelter since 2009 and it has consistently been shown to have strong impact per dollar donated, with a demonstrated impact rating of Good (see grid below). 

Financial Review:

Youth Without Shelter is a medium-sized charity with donations of $1.5m in F2018, including $254k in donated goods. YWS received $1.2m in government funding, representing 44% of total revenues. Administrative costs are 5% of revenues and fundraising costs are 14% of donations. For every dollar donated, 81 cents go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. YWS has $1.7m in funding reserves which could cover nine months of program costs.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Youth Without Shelter for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Results reporting analysis completed on November 19, 2018 by Katie Khodawandi.

Profile updated on June 25, 2019 by Madison Kerr.