At The Perch in downtown Vancouver, the low-barrier shelter for homeless and at-risk youth has just one requirement: Come as you are.
The Perch is one of Janus Youth Programs’ three shelters across Clark County for youth who are experiencing homelessness or unstable housing. The drop-in day shelter for young people ages 12 to 24 offers a safe space to access a shower, laundry facilities, electronics, and free meals and snacks. Staff members help connect youth with additional resources and can begin the process of transitioning them into permanent, stable housing if they choose.
“I feel like building trust is about a lot of consistency and transparency,” Outreach Coordinator Miranda Martin said. “I find something that I like about working here is that I don’t get to decide how youth live their life. It’s all about that autonomy they have. That, too, builds a lot of trust.”
In 2024, 159 young people used services at The Perch. The day shelter is open from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
Janus Youth Programs was founded in 1972 as a Multnomah County, Ore., demonstration project providing residential care for adolescents struggling with homelessness and addiction, according to its website.
Since then, the Portland-based nonprofit has expanded to serve about 4,000 people annually and operates some 20 programs across Oregon and Southwest Washington.
In addition to The Perch, Janus Youth Programs operates the Oak Bridge Youth Shelter, which is the first crisis-intervention shelter of its kind in Clark County, according to its website. The Janus House in Cowlitz County is another drop-in day center located on the border of Kelso and Longview. Shelter and Outreach Director Alaire de Salvo oversees the three youth shelters in Washington.
Some days, homeless youth come in for a warm shower or hot meal. Other days, they come in to simply be alone and exist in a safe, welcoming environment.
De Salvo said she has developed an understanding that many youth who stop by the day shelters have been traumatized, either from life experiences or from living on the streets. She and other members of her team do not expect youth to change themselves in order to receive services at The Perch.
“The Perch space itself is a low-barrier drop-in center, so people are not required to be clean or sober. All they are required to do to access services is maintain safe and respectful behavior while they are in this space,” de Salvo said. “So, even if they are actively using, as long as they’re not using hate speech or engaging in ways that are violent or threatening, they’re welcome to be here.”
Reaching youth
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Janus Youth Programs had a hard time finding and engaging with young people. But once the world opened up, numbers at the nonprofit spiked, including many seeking access to permanent housing, de Salvo said.
“We can provide an access point to that,” de Salvo said. “When we see the most youth is when we have the most housing resources available that we can help them connect to.”
Case Manager Meg Maestretti helps youth transition into permanent housing. She provides case management to participants who live at the low-income housing complexes Caples Terrace and Nam’u qas, which are both owned by the Vancouver Housing Authority.
Nam’u qas, the Cowlitz word for “to wish or hope,” provides housing for youth exiting foster care and youth experiencing homelessness in Clark County.
Youth living at both Caples Terrace and Nam’u qas receive access to household management skills training and support to help them reach their long-term goals.
“We recognize that they are dealing with significant ongoing major traumas, both historical and current,” de Salvo said. “And for us to expect them to just live some kind of idyllic life that we have decided is the right way to live is unreasonable. They’re doing what they need to do to survive, and we need to respect that.”
Within Janus Youth Programs’ Yellow Brick Road program, outreach workers connect with young people ages 12 to 24 who are living on the streets or in other high-risk situations. The program began in Clark County in 2007.
The focus of outreach is to build trusting relationships with young people and attend to their basic needs.
Two staff members, one of whom is in the engagement role and the other in the safety role, carry backpacks filled with supplies — such as socks, hygiene products, safe-sex resources and cold-weather gear — to give to youth in need.
“We have kids who have been reaching chronic levels, and they’re not even 25 yet, but they have been unhoused for three to four years,” Youth Outcomes Manager Julisse Hopmann said. “I’ve noticed that the longer they’re on the streets, the more barriers are created. Perhaps now they have a criminal record, but the things they’ve got in trouble for were out of necessity, such as camping illegally or trying to get supplies and getting picked up on petty theft.”
Youth also receive immediate access to information, community resource referrals and direct crisis intervention. But there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to outreach. Different people respond to different approaches, Hopmann said.
“Who we are in the community really changes by what the person in front of us needs,” Hopmann said.
Harm reduction plays a big role in Janus Youth Programs’ work, too. The nonprofit wants to empower people to make the safest decision for themselves, de Salvo said.
“It’s a significant model we use, particularly around outreach,” de Salvo said. “We give youth 100 percent autonomy over their choices and their decisions.”
Filling the gaps
For years, young people have been asking for a transition-age shelter for people ages 18 to 24, which Clark County does not currently offer, de Salvo said.
Janus Youth Programs operates an overnight transition-age youth shelter in Portland, but oftentimes, homeless youth do not want to leave their communities.
“It’s scary for them to go to Portland, even though it’s a neighboring city,” de Salvo said. “An 18-to-24-aged overnight shelter is something that has been asked for for a very long time in the community, but funds and other resources have not been available to institute it.”
De Salvo said Janus Youth Programs can assist youth with navigating the available adult shelter options in Clark County. While youth are technically eligible if they’re 18 or older, many of those shelters are not youth-specific spaces, nor do they have programs targeted for youth, de Salvo said.
As long as de Salvo has been working with at-risk communities, Clark County has always been under-resourced, she said. That’s why there is such a large focus on leveraging partnerships and not competing for the same niche.
Janus Youth Programs partners with various Vancouver nonprofits to bridge that gap in resources, including Akin, Council for the Homeless, YWCA Clark County, and Legal Counsel for Youth and Children.
“We are here to walk with them wherever they’re at in their journey,” de Salvo said.
This story has been updated to include a corrected quote.
