Christine and Angela are your typical 13-year-olds. They go to school and are enrolled in summer programs. Both have big ambitions to become beauticians, fashion designers, and singers when they grow up, though they argue with each other about who those life goals belonged to first.

The girls live with their families at the Bay Area Rescue Mission in Richmond, the largest family shelter in the East Bay. Christine, who is an only child, has been staying at the shelter since March. Angela, who lives with her twin sister and mom, has been there since April, something she didn’t expect.

“I thought it was going be like, two weeks,” Angela said with disappointment. “It feels sad because your mom doesn’t get money and it’s hard to find a job, and you can’t buy new clothes.”

When most think of homeless people, the image that comes to mind is an old smelly man sleeping on a park bench or begging for change. But homelessness doesn’t discriminate. You never really think about how homelessness affects entire families, especially the teenagers in those situations.

Twenty-five years ago, the average homeless person was a 55-year-old male alcoholic, said Carey Kachurka, director of the family center at the Bay Area Rescue Mission. Today, the average homeless person is 27 years old, male or female.

There are 2,346 homeless families in San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness. In Contra Costa County, the homeless population is at 14,700. Sixty-six percent of that community is made up of family members, according to the 2001-2006 Contra Costa County Continuum Care Plan.

According to the Alameda County Public Health Department, there are an estimated 9,000-12,000 homeless people in the county on any given day. The department doesn’t keep track of the number of families in the area.

These numbers may be very low because many people don’t report that they are homeless.

“Homelessness is not just one set of circumstances,” Kachurka said. “Some are homeless because of drugs and alcohol, some are homeless because of mental health issues … some are on a limited income and it’s very difficult to find housing they can afford.”

Christine and Angela aren’t runaways or troublesome teens, but because of hard times their parents are facing, they have to live in the shelter. They are two of six teenagers currently living at the Rescue Mission.

“Probably the hardest thing for a teen here is that you don’t want to let your friends know because people say things that are not kind,” Kachurka said. “It’s hard for anyone to admit that you’re homeless and have to come to a shelter. Even for the adults it’s hard. For the teens especially, it can be quite challenging.”

Christine doesn’t tell anyone about where she lives. Angela’s friends don’t believe her when she told them that she lives in a shelter.

“They don’t believe me, maybe because they live with their parents and they go to work but our parents don’t have jobs and money to buy stuff,” Angela said.

This isn’t the first time Angela has been homeless. Eight years ago, she was in the same situation, so this is a familiar setting for her. But that doesn’t make it any easier. It’s hard enough to be a teen nowadays, with everything teens are exposed to, like drugs, violence, sex, and personal identity issues. Living in a shelter adds to the stress. Dealing with the lifestyle change, from home to shelter, can have lasting affects on their relationships with others.

“The younger you are, the more vulnerable you become to the effects of homelessness,” said Dr. Brian Greenberg, program director at the Shelter Network, an organization that provides support services for homeless families in the San Francisco Peninsula.

“The teenage years are when you are solidifying your peer relationships and negotiating with your parents … but in that time, homeless teens are trying to find a place to live instead of solidifying peer relationships,” Greenberg said.

“Teens are also negotiating dates, curfews, sexuality. This is disrupted because the parents of these teens are focused on the needs of the family, shelter and food, so the teens miss out on negotiating healthy interactions with their parents and it has a strong affect on these teens.”

Add to this “the challenge of being somewhere you don’t know, it’s not your own place, you’re out of your regular routine” and it can be extremely stressful, Kachurka said.

Christine and Angela said it’s hard for them to focus on their schoolwork. When they get home to the shelter, they have to go to dinner and then to chapel. By time they get out of chapel, there’s only enough time to take a shower and go to bed. There isn’t much time to finish homework, especially if they need help.

“The hardest part is that you can’t see your family as often as you used to,” Angela said. But just as she added, “You get to meet new people,” Christine interrupted: “And have friends that care about you.”