b'Protecting Our Most Vulnerable: Unsheltered andRunaway Native YouthNative peoples have inhabited Turtle Islandfor 20,000 years, and the phenomenon ofunsheltered/homeless Native youth isrelatively new in Native American andAlaska Native Nations/communities. Yettoday, 400+ years post-colonization, NativeAmerican youth have more than double therisk of experiencing homelessnesscompared to other youth. Additionally,LGBTQ+ youth experience a 120% higher risk homeless veterans, and homeless childrenof becoming homeless after coming out to and youth. The report highlights the following:their families. To add to the risk, a persons Among all people experiencingidentity can intersect with multiple homelessness, 4% identified as Americandemographic categories and put them at an Indian, Alaska Native (AI/AN), oreven higher risk of homelessness. I dont Indigenous. These individuals were nearlyknow of any tribe that has, in their native twice as likely to be experiencinglanguage, a word for homeless, Sami Jo unsheltered homelessness than shelteredDifuntorum, Executive Director of Siletz homelessness.Tribal Housing Department states. The largest percentage increase of peopleColonization and the resulting impact on experiencing homelessness between 2022cultural and societal cohesiveness has and 2023 was among people whocontributed to the homeless situation identified as AI/AN or Indigenous, whichamong Native peoples and communities.increased by 18% (1,631 more people).AI/AN or Indigenous populations alsoIn December 2023, the Department of showed a large percentage increase inHousing and Urban Development (HUD) both sheltered and unshelteredpublished the 2023 Annual Homelessness experiences of individual homelessnessAssessment Report (AHAR) to Congress, between 2022 and 2023, both of whichPart 1: Point-in-Time Estimates of rose by 18-19% (or 2,860 people total).Homelessness. This report outlines the key 3% of all families with childrenfindings of the Point-In-Time (PIT) count and experiencing homelessness in 2023 wereHousing Inventory Count (HIC) conducted in AI/AN or Indigenous people.January 2023. Specifically, this report Unaccompanied youth who identified asprovides 2023 national, state, and AI/AN or Indigenous made up nearlyContinuums of Care (CoCs)-level PIT and twice as large of the share of youthHIC estimates of homelessness, as well as located in unsheltered locations thanestimates of chronically homeless persons,sheltered locations (7% vs 4%).16'