1. Youth Homelessness is Invisible!
We often hear the reference to ‘street kids’ but in fact most homeless young people are invisible to us. The data tells us that most homeless young people are ‘couch surfing’ and living in other unstable situations. This generally means that they are temporarily staying with friends, relatives, family and sometimes with complete strangers. These young people will often be sleeping on couches or on the floors of these people’s houses until they outstay their welcome and move on to the next place – hence the couch surfing term.
This is contrary to what the general public might assume in that homeless people are generally thought to live on the streets.
You don’t have to be houseless to be homeless. These young people are not visible to the public yet they are a large proportion of the homeless youth population.
Key message: Young homeless people do not need rough sleeping initiatives alone but rather they need effective access to supported accommodation, family reconciliation services and community support and education programs to prevent homelessness in the first place.
2. Nearly half of all homeless Australians are children and young people under the age of 25
There were 44,547 children and young people aged 0-25 who were homeless on census night in 2006. Broken down, there were 12,133 children under 12; 21,940 young people aged 12-18; and 10,504 young adults aged 19-25 who were homeless on census night in 2006.
Whilst the number of homeless youth has dropped since the 2001 census date there has been an increase in homeless children and young families and couples. This figure is 43% of all homeless people so therefore children and young people under 25 make up nearly half of all homeless people in Australia.
Key Message: Specific strategies to address child and youth homelessness are critical to the overall reduction and elimination of homelessness in Australia
3. Homelessness can affect any young person
There are a variety of reasons why children and young people become homeless that are often outside of the control of the young person. The general public often has a view that young homeless people are run-aways and could really return home if they wanted to. In reality many young people become homeless due to family breakdown, family violence and child abuse.
Statistically 45% of homeless young people identify interpersonal relationship problems including family violence and parent/adolescent conflict as the primary reason for becoming homeless. The next most common reasons are accommodation issues (18%) such as being evicted or unable to find suitable accommodation and financial reasons (14%) such as unable to pay rent or other financial difficulty
Many young people find it difficult to be approved for leases due to the high demand on rental properties and discrimination against young people. There are also issues around overcrowding and the cost of housing that cause young people to become homeless.
Homelessness affects all groups of people and we know that young people who are indigenous, are from a single or blended family, have been homeless as a child or have been in statutory care, are at greater risk of homelessness.
Key Message: The Community needs to stop judging homelessness youth as 'deliquent 'and 'street kids'.
4. A job alone is not the solution for youth homelessness
Can you imagine trying to maintain or find work when you have no stable living arrangement? Many young people are expected to secure and maintain a job without stable accommodation and support. Some people also believe that getting a job will resolve homelessness by providing an income but this does not acknowledge the underlying causes of homelessness in young people.
Young people require safety and security, trust, and an appropriate support network for them to succeed at anything.
The Australian Government has taken steps to reform the employment services sector to ensure that greater support is provided to young people who are homeless and job seeking however we must ensure that homelessness intervention is not simplified to finding a job as there are other reasons why young people are homeless.
Key Message: It is important that young people are able to access support to address the underlying causes of their homelessness and whilst they are supported to secure appropriate employment.
5. How would you cope with school if you were homeless?
There are nearly 10,000 homeless school students in Australia aged between 12 and 18 years old. In the Federal Government’s White Paper on Homelessness the government commits to the following:
Provide additional specialist support to children including brokerage funds to assist them to return to home and school.
Deliver additional services for up to 9,000 12–18 year olds at risk of homelessness to remain connected with their families, where it is safe and appropriate, as well as access to education, training and employment.
There is a need to hold Federal AND State levels of government accountable to these commitments to ensure that specific programs and resources are allocated to support children and young people to remain at or re-engage in education or employment where appropriate.
Traditionally, homeless youth and those at risk of family breakdown have struggled to fit into the usual school environment. Their attendance usually suffers along with their level of concentration. Many students struggle to maintain positive friendships and others become withdrawn or their behaviour becomes disruptive to other students. Some students will drop out of school and may need assistance to re-enter school once their accommodation becomes stable. In some cases this may mean additional tuition or temporary breaks from their education.
Schools provide an excellent environment for early detection of risk factors that lead to homelessness and family breakdown. Therefore schools also provide an excellent avenue to assist families and young people to access appropriate support services to prevent homelessness. Therefore specific strategies are needed in the education system to prevent homelessness and to enable schools to adapt to the needs of these students so that their education does not suffer.
Key Message: Specific strategies are needed to support homeless children and young people to maintain or re-engage with thier education. Strategies are also needed to provide effective early intervention and prevention services to children at risk of homelessness
Sources:
The Road Home: A National Approach to Reducing Homelessness, Dec 2008
2006/07 AIHW National SAAP Data Report published in 2008
Chamberlain and MacKenzie 2008 Counting the Homeless Report 2006, ABS