More often than not, young homeless people in Denmark come from homes where the parents are better educated than previously believed, according to a new report from the national welfare research centre, SFI.
The report showed that 57 percent of the nation’s young homeless people aged 18-29 have parents who attended higher education – either for a short (less than three years), medium or long period (five or more years). In 2008, just 29 percent of the Danish workforce had attended higher education.
The new figures shocked Bjørn Bendorff, a superintendent working at a shelter for the aid organisation Kirkens Korshær.
“Our experience has been that the homeless often come from vulnerable families: that they were let down during their upbringing, had little or no schooling, grew up surrounded by crime, were abused and marginalised and without a network,” Bendorff told TV2 News. “Suddenly, it looks like many of them have a network and that is surprising.”
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Not a poor man's tribulation
Out of the 57 percent, 44 percent have parents who either have vocational educations or have short higher educations, while 13 percent have medium or long higher educations.
The young people who make up the figures in the new report have all developed a psychological illness or have substance abuse issues.
