Youth Health and Housing Lab

When it comes to improving health outcomes for youth more generally, youth experiencing homelessness have been largely left out of the conversation locally and nationally. 

What is YHHL?

The Youth Health and Housing Lab leads youth-driven, community-engaged, multi-sector research, education, and advocacy at the intersection of housing, healthcare, and public health to advance health equity and bolster resilience among youth experiencing homelessness. Youth voices and expertise drive this work.

Our interdisciplinary team, led by Dr. Gewirtz O’Brien, is housed within the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine. YHHL and its partners apply academic research to learn more, design and test possible solutions, and implement those solutions together.

Our Approach

Our team is committed to a strengths-based, anti-oppressive, trauma-informed approach rooted in Positive Youth Development. We uplift youth voice, and center equity in every aspect of the work. 

Why Focus on Youth Experiencing Homelessness?

Over 13,300 unaccompanied youth experience homelessness in Minnesota each year. The research shows that youth who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness in Minnesota are resilient and resourceful. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of youth experiencing homelessness identify as Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC), compared to just 26% of all Minnesota youth; and 23% of youth experiencing homelessness identify as LGBTQ+, compared to 4% of all Minnesota youth.  

Youth homelessness is often the direct result of multiple systemic failings that counter the truths that all people deserve to be fed, clothed, housed, and loved. The experience of homelessness poses a direct threat to health and also compounds young people’s health risks associated with oppression due to other marginalized identities they may hold.

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