I’m graduating this December with a journalism major and a certificate in whining. If I forget my computer charger at home, want a snack or incur some “great injustice” from a professor on a test, I will voice my temporary inconvenience, sometimes with a sigh dipped in martyrdom.

I was sobered while researching Rep. Chris Taylor’s, D-Madison, proposal to bolster services for homeless youth in Dane County – a topic I think is too often talked about in abstract terms. Taylor’s proposal includes funds for shelters specifically for homeless unaccompanied youth and allowing them to stay in shelters for 28 days instead of 15.

I spoke with Jani Koester, a resource teacher at the Madison Metropolitan School District’s Transition Education Program, and asked her what the cost of not having Taylor’s proposed services would be.

“It would have a cost educationally. Not having a place to stay at night means you don’t have a place to do your homework or to study. You don’t have a network of people to work with. Your focus is on ‘where am I going to sleep, what am I going to eat, and how am I going to be safe through the night?’

“School is in the back of your mind, because you’re in survival [mode],” Koester said. She added she knew of some families who were staying in their vans last night.

Could you imagine not knowing where you are going to wash your clothes? Or when you are going to eat next? What would you tell your teacher if you spent the night trying to find a place to sleep instead of doing the assigned problem set? Koester said all those are the very real and very harsh reality of being a homeless unaccompanied youth.

Koester explained that some youth are homeless, but have guardians. Unaccompanied youth have a place to stay, she said, while unaccompanied homeless youth have neither of these. She works with many youth, ages 13-18 and older and said cases went into the thousands for the 2011-12 school year.

Taylor needs to fight until there is a shelter for youth in Dane County. Expanding the number of days it is permissible to stay in a shelter from 15 to 28 would make a difference no doubt, but it would be a major step to actually have a space exclusively for unaccompanied homeless youth, and currently Koester said there is not one for them in Dane County.

Right now the State Legislature is not in session, but Taylor said in an interview the part of her proposal dealing with allowed time in the shelter should be ready by the time legislators reconvene in 2013, hopefully with bipartisan support. However, she said the portion of her proposal that would require funding may take some more time before it hits the floor.

Taylor said she has seen a lot of money this session spent on “corporate tax breaks and tax cuts for the wealthy,” and wants to direct funding to youth programs, including the shelter. This would also be the most difficult part of the proposal because it would need funding, which Koester said is the biggest barrier to getting both short-term and long-term services for homeless unaccompanied youth. While she said long-term services are the key to true change in a homeless youth’s life, the emergency shelters and short-term services are an integral and necessary first step.

So how can Taylor make this proposal a reality?

It is difficult to engage in a conversation about homelessness because there are so many uncomfortable factors which play into both the problem of homelessness as well as the solution, including alcoholism, mental health and, if you are a homeless 11-year-old, bad luck. Tuesday night, Koester said, there will be families and kids sleeping in a van. Those are uncomfortable realities, but they belong in the dialogue about homelessness solutions because without them, I do not think people will care enough to support and work for a difference. Yes, we all agree that homelessness is bad in some abstract sense, like we can all agree that war and sickness are bad. But it is harder to talk about solutions because solutions mean funds and resources, which are hard to negotiate for.

That is why Koester’s words struck me and are important. Taylor’s statement lists some startling figures about the numbers of homeless youth (approximately 10,000 in Wisconsin according to the Wisconsin Division of Housing). Those are important and necessary for a policy discussion. Additionally, being reminded of the very material consequences of being a kid and not having a house or a guardian puts more emotional urgency on the problem.

It is necessary to take homelessness out of the abstract. This is a massive issue with consequences (or benefits) that may span decades: Taylor said the ultimate goal of youth programs is to make sure they become fulfilled people with an education and a job. I was overdue for a reminder about how real homelessness is in the area where I live, and I am sure I cannot be the only one.

Adelaide Blanchard ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in journalism.