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The lone recommendation from a report on youth homelessness in B.C. is simple: Develop a distinct plan to end youth homelessness and start implementing it by the end of the year.

The youth-led report was released Friday morning by Representative for Children and Youth Jennifer Charlesworth. It was written with input from 231 youth across the province, who shared their experiences and insights at 13 community forums organized by youth leaders, as well as through an online survey.

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“It took a tremendous amount of courage and bravery to share these stories,” said Charlesworth, noting that some of the youth felt it was “too late” to avoid their own experiences with homelessness, but wanted to help other kids.

About 53 per cent of the youth who participated in the community forums had their first experience with homelessness before the age of 16.

“All over B.C., right now, there are youth who don’t know where they will sleep tonight,” said the executive summary of the 111-page report, which was written by Katherine McParland, the executive director of A Way Home Kamloops Society.