The number of homeless people in the Bronx has increased since last year, with some of that number being teens, according to the Coalition for Homeless Youth, an advocacy and direct service organization based in New York City. Many of them do not have a place to lay their heads at night, an issue becoming more and more common.

“As a former homeless young person, I know how hard it is to get by without a safe, affordable place to live,” said Jawanza Williams, a youth organizer at VOCAL-NY. The community organizing group took part in a January news conference announcing increased city services for homeless youth. Williams added services would most importantly help “LGBT youth, who are an estimated 40 percent of the runaway and homeless youth population in New York City.”

The number of teen runaways has increased, according to Friends Committee on National Legislation. Coalition for Homeless Youth, which also works with runaways, reports that 59,791 homeless youth received services from a New York State provider from 1985 to 2015. Coalition for the Homeless estimates the number of homeless people in New York City every night has increased from 60,096 in December 2015 to 60,410 people in February 2016. Out of these 60,410 homeless people counted in February, 23,738 were children or young adults.

The Department of Homeless Services will add 300 beds over the next three years, according to an announcement made by the de Blasio Administration early this year.

Shahera Hyatt, the director of the California Homeless Youth Project, a California-based program that helps young people in need of a place to sleep, eat and find personal aid, has experienced youth homelessness firsthand. “I see a lot, especially transitioning 18- to 24-year-olds,” who are moving between housing options, Hyatt said. “[The] number one factor nationwide of them being homeless is poverty. And when you experience poverty, conflict can arise within families.”

Hyatt understands the struggle these teens go through, having once been homeless herself. “I have lived in hotels and motels with family as a teenager. I remember blaming my parents, but now I blame the lack of response from our government in that time,” she said.

City agencies like the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), Deputy Chief of Asset Management Operations Jerry Torres, and Hunter Gradie, policy adviser at the Mayor’s Office of Operations from City Hall, have worked with 55 resource facilities to support and repair violations in homeless shelters. They are replacing radiators, fixing air conditioners, treating rooms and halls to remove and prevent rodents and insects, and also bringing new supplies such as blankets, sheets and pillows.

“If we have a good quality of life for parents, then it can reflect on our children. If the resources are there for parents, then that can make a good quality of life for their kids,” Torres said. “If parents cannot be educated or gain resources, then how can our children make it?”