Liz Schoenfeld, Ph.D.

What we talked about

Why LifeWorks focuses on young people

Homelessness is not one condition with one cause. LifeWorks concentrates on youth because the paths into homelessness and the interventions that work for young people differ from those associated with adult chronic homelessness.

Schoenfeld says nearly 1,200 young people in the Austin community are unhoused—and there are nearly 1,200 individual reasons why. Focus allows the organization to understand those stories deeply instead of treating every person as a version of the same case.

The systems behind the individual stories

Although every story is distinct, patterns appear. Schoenfeld says roughly 60% of unhoused young people in Austin have touched the child-welfare system, while about 38% have been involved with the juvenile legal system.

Those figures shift the conversation away from personal blame. Youth homelessness often reflects what happens when public systems, family supports and community networks fail to carry a young person through transition.

Most people are closer to crisis than they think

A medical bill, car repair, lost job or missed rent payment can compound quickly when a household has little emergency savings. The deciding factor is often not personal character but whether someone has a network able to absorb the shock.

Schoenfeld asks people to examine their own circumstances honestly: who could they call, how many emergencies could they carry, and what would happen if the people normally providing support disappeared? That humility creates a more accurate foundation for empathy.

Recognition as a basic act of dignity

Fear and unfamiliarity make it easier to avoid eye contact with someone experiencing homelessness. Schoenfeld recommends beginning with something smaller than solving the entire crisis: recognize the person.

A greeting, a smile and direct eye contact acknowledge shared humanity. Those acts do not replace housing or services, but they resist the social erasure that can make an already difficult situation even more isolating.

Foster Youth to Independence vouchers

Young people leaving foster care face an especially high risk of immediate housing instability. Schoenfeld says 12% exit directly into homelessness. LifeWorks has helped Austin become a Texas leader in using Foster Youth to Independence housing vouchers for eligible young people.

The voucher addresses rent, but the program also requires supportive services. LifeWorks has worked with local funders and government partners while advocating for stronger state participation in the services that make housing sustainable.

Why housing alone is not enough

A roof is essential, but an 18-year-old leaving care may still need help managing bills, keeping utilities connected, finding work, continuing education and navigating systems that other young adults handle with family support.

Case management and other services supply the bridge between receiving a lease and maintaining a stable life. The effective intervention combines housing with the knowledge, relationships and resources required to keep it.

Deflecting young people from juvenile justice

LifeWorks also partners with the district attorney's office and the Excellence Project on a program that diverts young people from deeper juvenile-system involvement. A frequent entry point is an assault-family-violence charge arising from conflict at home.

Police responding to a volatile household may remove the young person because removing the adult creates additional child-welfare complications. The result can be detention even when aggression was mutual and the underlying problem was family conflict, food insecurity or another unmet need.

The power of the label a young person receives

Being handcuffed, placed in a police car and taken into an institutional setting can change how a young person sees what is possible. A system intended to stabilize one event can create a lasting identity and increase the likelihood of deeper involvement.

LifeWorks responds by refusing to define young people by the moment in front of them. Housing status, a difficult history or a legal-system encounter is a circumstance—not a complete identity. The central question becomes: who do you want to be, and how can we walk alongside you toward that future?