Research Findings

Recent research has deepened our understanding of the pathways leading into and out of youth homelessness, highlighting adolescence as a critical period where vulnerability and opportunity intersect. Identifying pathways into young adult homelessness earlier in life is central to guiding evidence-based prevention approaches.

Two recent studies from our cross-national International Youth Development Study (IYDS)—which focuses on young people in the United States and Australia – have assessed the effects of factors in families, peer, school, and community environments on pathways to young adult homelessness. Findings show that 9% of young adults reported housing insecurity and 25% experienced financial hardship. We found that adolescent experiences play a role in shaping both young adult housing instability and financial hardship. We identified factors including school suspension, academic difficulties, family conflict, and behavioural problems (including substance use and aggression) as strong predictors of homelessness and hardship in young adulthood. These findings point to the powerful influence of social, behavioural, and educational contexts during adolescence in determining later housing and economic stability.

Building on this evidence, we have initiated a living systematic review to synthesise international findings on the factors influencing pathways to homelessness from birth to young adulthood. This work aims to identify the social, familial, and community factors that place young people at risk, as well as those that support recovery and stability, helping to clarify both the pathways into and out of homelessness across the early life course. We look forward to this review becoming available to share in 2026.

What This Means

Together, our findings suggest that the pathways leading to homelessness often begin in adolescence, shaped by the social, behavioural, and educational challenges. School suspension has emerged as a potential risk of homelessness across our work. It is possible suspension is a marked of other issues a young person might be facing, such as family conflict, unaddressed mental health needs, and isolation within schools or communities.

Next Steps

Policy and research efforts must focus on identifying when and how factors on the pathway to homelessness and financial hardship emerge during childhood and adolescence. Early, targeted programs that address factors that lie behind school suspension, that improve educational engagement, and that build family and community support networks are essential to preventing long-term housing and financial disadvantage. The emerging findings from IYDS, and our other studies at the CAH, have applications for intervention and prevention approaches across Australia.

Publications

Heerde, J. A., Bailey, J. A., Toumbourou, J. W., & Sawyer, S. M. (2025). Adolescent Predictors of Financial Hardship in Young Adulthood: A Cross-National Comparison. Journal of Adolescent Health.77(5): 989-996. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X25003209

Heerde, J. A., Bailey, J. A., McMorris, B. J., Patton, G. C., Sawyer, S. M., & Toumbourou, J. W. (2024). Predictors of housing insecurity in young adulthood. Emerging Adulthood, 12(4), 607-619. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/21676968241253878