Editor’s note: This is part nine of a series that explores the housing crisis affecting Port Townsend and Jefferson County

At 20, Chloe Lopez-Kennison knows all too well what it means to be a homeless youth. Moving into town at 16, she cycled through Port Townsend searching for stability — staying on a friend’s couch, in a coworker’s spare bedroom and the home of a family she knew through a high school friend. Each opportunity ended in the same way: conflict, rejection or both.

“It was really hard to find anywhere to stay,” said Lopez-Kennison. “I was focused on where I was going to live, not on college or what was next.”

Her scramble for stability illustrates how quickly young people can fall through the cracks in Jefferson County and how existing programs, state and local, can step up to assist. Eventually, Lopez-Kennison connected with OWL360, a nonprofit dedicated to helping unhoused and at-risk youth, which was able to connect her with WorkSource, a state-funded training program that paid her an hourly wage during a 26-training program designed by The Leader.

It’s a success story in a community where the barriers faced by young people are well known: a lack of affordable housing, limited public transportation, scarce youth spaces, and jobs that rarely pay enough for young people to cover Jefferson County rents, said OWL360 director Kelli Parcher.

Homeless youth face numerous challenges. “If you’re homeless, it is so hard to get a hold of a Social Security card or a birth certificate,” Lopez-Kennison said. “Those are required for food assistance or housing assistance, and if you don’t have a mailing address, it’s really hard to get access to them.”

Disconnected youth

Her experience tells a familiar story in Jefferson County. Measure of America, a national research group that analyzes the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data, identifies what it calls “disconnected youth,” 16- to 24-year-olds who are neither in school nor working.

According to its 2016–2020 estimates, approximately 25% of young people in Jefferson County fall into this category, totaling roughly 400 individuals. In comparison, the statewide rate is about 11%, nearly mirroring the national average of 10.9%. Both Clallam and Kitsap counties fare much lower, posting rates of 15% and 12% respectively.

Measure of America notes that small-town data can fluctuate because of small sample sizes. But even with those margins of error, Jefferson County remains among the highest in the state.

“It’s not rocket science. Affordable housing isn’t just a youth problem here, it’s an everyone problem,” said Parcher. “But for young people who don’t have rental history, credit or stable jobs, the mountain in front of them just gets bigger.”

For Lopez-Kennison, that number rings true. “I think a lot of youth here are stuck,” she said. “They can’t find jobs, they can’t afford housing, and they just don’t have a way to connect to anything.”

OWL360 played a pivotal role for her. Parcher helped place her in Pfeiffer House, a transitional home in Port Townsend, where young adults can stay for two years, with the opportunity to build a rental history and develop life skills.

“That place was great — it gave me two years of stability,” Lopez-Kennison said. “They didn’t just give me a roof; they connected me with a therapist, classes and the kind of support that makes you feel confident in your abilities.”

Parcher said the idea is not simply about giving young people a roof over their heads.

“We don’t just hand over a key,” she said. “Our goal is to combine housing with career pathways, therapy, and life-skills support, so when young people move on, they’re ready to stand on their own.”

The WorkSource training program, which helps connect people 16-24 with job training and employment opportunities, is part of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). The Leader participated by creating a part-time training program while the state paid Lopez-Kennison a rate of $21.24 per hour. It led to a full-time job offer from The Leader, an underlying goal of the program. 

Lopez-Kennison gained a broader perspective of the challenges in Jefferson County after working with OlyCAP as a youth case manager. 

“I was meeting kids in Brinnon, Quilcene, Hadlock — places where it’s so rural, and resources are so limited,” she said. “A lot of them wanted to work or go to school, but just couldn’t make the connections. Transportation, housing, even safety — it all gets in the way.”

That work confirmed just how isolating the county can be for young people, she said.

“There’s just this lack of community for youth within the community, and it sucks,” she said. “Everything seems to be very centered and directed towards the older community … There’s nothing for teens; there’s nothing for young adults.”

A way forward

Despite the setbacks, Lopez-Kennison has found a path forward and looks to make an impact with her shared experience. She has since left Jefferson County and is now hoping to attend Central Washington University.

“I’m hoping to go into psychology,” she said. “For a while, I wanted to do childhood trauma therapy, but I’m also thinking about occupational therapy or physical therapy. I’ve seen a lot of ways that people like that have been able to impact other people’s lives, and I really want to be able to help people and make their lives more accessible and easier to live.”

Lopez-Kennison reflected on her time living in Jefferson County, and in sharing her story, she hopes the community will strive to listen more attentively and establish a deeper understanding of the realities of youth homelessness and instability.

“Most of the time this isn’t something they chose,” she said. “Older folks think they put themselves in those positions, or they’re not trying hard enough, or they just don’t want to get a job. And that’s not the case. There’s a lot of roadblocks and there’s a lot of barriers.”

Parcher emphasized that the stakes facing Jefferson County’s youth are higher than most realize.

“They’re not leaving,” she said. “Most of the young people we serve want to stay here. If we don’t invest in them now, we risk losing the very foundation of our community.”

As for Lopez-Kennison, her hope is simple: that the next generation of Jefferson County youth won’t face the same uphill battle for stability, and that finding a safe place to live is a starting point, not a struggle.

Alex Frick is a Report for America corps member who writes about rural peninsula communities. Please consider a tax-deductible gift of any amount to help cover his work for The Leader by visiting www.ptleader.com/donation-portal-preview/index.html