Group gives homeless young people shelter

After a long day at work, Nicole Smith relaxed with her surrogate family at the apartment she called home after she was rescued from the street.

This was where she went when she had nowhere else to go, her life in a backpack.

The 21-year-old sat on a raggedy old chair in the TV room at a complex renovated as dorms for at-risk youths. She shared the facility with other college-age people who came to Phoenix by bus or were kicked out by their families and became homeless.

Volunteers from HomeBase Youth Services found Smith after disagreements with parents landed her in a central Phoenix shelter. The non-profit group housed her at the 25-bed Nicholas Transitional Living Center and helped her get culinary training and confidence to earn a job serving at an Arizona State University cafeteria.

The apartments HomeBase unveiled earlier this month as part of a $6 million renovation house more than 100 youths annually. Some are emergency placements rushed into apartments to remove them from the threat of violence or sexual abuse.

A move next door

As Smith packed her Harry Potter collection and other prized books to move next door to a HomeBase independent-living complex, she remembered the feeling of hopelessness of living at Central Arizona Shelter Services in central Phoenix - the largest shelter in the state, where older homeless people often prey on fledglings.

"I was scared to death," Smith said. "I felt like I was 10. I had no idea what was going on."

Smith, who graduated recently from transitional living, is one of more than 1,300 youths HomeBase serves annually through a variety of programs, including a street-outreach program where volunteers first meet homeless youths.

Beyond mere survival

The HomeBase transitional-living program shifts youths from a schedule of daily survival to one geared toward school, career and saving money. Group leaders tout sites such as the Nicholas Center near Indian School Road and Seventh Street as the antithesis to government-supported facilities like CASS, where many youths go after aging out of foster care or running away from home.

More than 390,000 of Arizona's homeless were sheltered in emergency placements or transitional housing in 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Government offices rarely break down adult homeless demographics by specific age groups. Definitions of "youth" vary by organization.

HomeBase's mission is to wean young people, ages 18 to 21, off welfare using a highly structured educational approach and less government money than other organizations. Funding comes largely from local philanthropists and businesses.

Tenants at the Nicholas Center repeat self-help mantras, focus on goal-oriented steps to personal development and learn life lessons - like how to clean their rooms - many never learned growing up.

Memories of home

For Smith, the rules reminded her of growing up in her mother's home.

"It was like coming back to a structure that I recognized," she said. "If it wasn't for a place like this, I would be on the streets right now."

'No responsibilities'

Not every young person wants to be rescued. Some just take handouts, knowing the time and place to get free food on a regular basis, and avoid the regulations that come with joining a transitional-living program.

Josh Jenkins and his companion Lexie Temple, both 21, shuffle between CASS and makeshift homes on the street and avoid living in youth homes like those at HomeBase.

"No responsibilities," he said. "I worry about her, she worries about me, and that's all we have to do."

The couple, like Smith, ended up homeless in the wake of disagreements with family members who have homes in California and Ahwatukee.

Chris Debreceni, senior director of programs at HomeBase, said young people like Smith will succeed in the regimented program if they are motivated to change their lives.

Many youths who graduate through the HomeBase system, he said, seek social services training so they can earn jobs working with the homeless to help make an impact on others like them.

"They have something valuable there to give back," Debreceni said. "And who better to help the next generation than those who lived it?"

Reach the reporter at michael .ferraresi@arizonarepublic.com.

Nicole Smith, 21, recently moved into HomeBase Youth Services' independent-living complex in Phoenix after spending time in its transitional housing.