Youth Workers are not under-resourced, or at least they dont have to be. Many resources are very affordable and thanks to sites like this one and pastor2youth.com, many resources can be downloaded and accessed with great ease. However, resources are not the greatest need in youth ministry...
As to what is, I really cant say with certainty. It really depends on certain youth ministers. One thing that would have been a great big help in my life was a coach or mentor to lead me on things like vision casting, adult worker recruitment and development, conflict management, etc.

Now I did receive some of this in seminary and working as an intern in college, but I still can struggle with some of these issues. I always have to go back to my time in a mentor program in college though. That's where I learned the greatest amount about youth ministry. If I had not had anyone to walk through early youth ministry with me, who knows where I would be.

2 resources to consider on this: My First 2 Years in Youth Ministry by Doug Fields (if you are new youth worker, this should be your first purchase) and the mentor project from this site.

yeah, I wish it was alot better, but we're getting there

I like my youth space (most of the time). It's the gym. We share it with everybody else. On Wednesdays we have a church wide meal'; then students roll out the stage (yep, it's on wheels) and set up. Other adults help out moving chairs and such. The meal allows students to engage with other adults and for the rest of the church to see what's happening in the student ministry. I like it because, although the student ministry uses the space most, it's not relegated just to students, but all church members use it.

Now for the real question - I dont believe youth ministry should in any way be a separate entity of the church or act as a individual organism outside of the church. Students are the church. They are part of the universal church of all believers and of the local church they attend. We have for too long tried to make it a place that looks cool, sounds cool, is cool and not spend anywhere near the energy showing, teaching, and guiding students to learn about the church (and I'm not just talking polity here either). The context of the local church is to represent the bride (and body) of Christ - by serving others, sharing the good news with others, sacrificing for the good of others (wait, did that just come out sounding like way too much of a mission statement there?). We have to be careful not to let our actions state "Christ died for this youth ministry." Jesus gave his life for the church and if we aren't leading students to be an active part of the local body of believers, than we aren't doing our job.

So yes, I have a youth space, and yes I love it. But no, I will not hide behind it and will work my best to help our students see our student ministry as a part of the organism and not a separate organization