This book relates the lived experiences of homeless youth as they
negotiate the individual, sociocultural, and economic tensions of
transitioning out of homeless and street contexts and cultures.
Youth are one of the fastest growing segments of the homeless
population. Although there has been much research on how youth become
homeless and survive on the streets, we know very little about their
pathways off the street and the many challenges that present during this
process.
Through interviews the authors gained privileged entry into the lives of
youth in Toronto and Halifax over a year-long period. With rich
qualitative prose, quantitative elaboration, and comic-book narratives,
participants spoke of courage, fortitude, strength, adversity, and at
times, simple bad luck. Ultimately this became a story of fragility,
complexity, living "on the edge," and the (re)-building of identity.