Calgary has shelters for homeless adults and programs for homeless families but, until recently, one homeless demographic would often fall through the cracks of the system.

A Calgary man, Paul Graesser was concerned by the lack of available help for young people, between the ages of 15 and 24, who didn’t have a roof over their heads. Paul helped pioneer the ‘Roofs for Youth’ program to rectify the situation.

“It's a relatively new program from the John Howard Society in partnership with Wood's Homes,” explains Paul. “There was an idea, about two years ago, and I was lucky enough, fortunate enough, to be one of the pioneers of the program working with youth aged 15 to 24 that were essentially homeless.”

Paul says there are good shelters for adults but at risk youth have special needs.

“It's very difficult to find these young people stable housing. There are not a lot of opportunities out there for stable housing here in Calgary.”

Paul says when those needs are not met, there's a greater risk of young people getting into trouble with the law.

Michael Johnson is one of the beneficiaries of the program and because of ‘Roofs for Youth’, he has a place to live and has developed cooking skills. Johnson remains amazed by his newfound cooking prowess considering there was a time when he didn't even know whether he'd be able to eat, let alone prepare a full meal.

“When I first got into (Roofs for Youth), I was really reluctant against it because I always had people comin' in my life, like you know, not really helping,” said Johnson. “They'd come in, we'd talk like a month then they would just be gone but Paul always stuck around. After a while I figured out that realistically he's like an older brother to me now.”

Michael Johnson is grateful for what Paul and Roofs for Youth have done for him.

“Without that I would have been in a shelter or on the streets really.”

Paul says he’s able to relate to troubled young people because, as a youth, he too made some wrong choices.

Kotaro Kajita, a case worker with the John Howard Society, is inspired by the way Paul connects with disenfranchised young people.

‘The way he's able to build relationships and build this trust with the youth that come from a background that made them so distrustful to people,” said Kajita. “He can break that wall and just come in.”

For providing young people with an opportunity for a fresh start, Paul Graesser is this week’s Inspiring Albertan.

With files from CTV's Darrel Janz