The Home Time Youth Housing Coalition is urging all federal election candidates to commit to the creation of a national target of 15,000 tenancies, which advocates say would help ease the burden on crisis accommodation centres in Wyndham.
Head of policy and government advocacy at Melbourne City Mission (MCM) Shorna Moore, one of the 170 organisations that form the coalition, said that youth crisis accommodation centres in the area are at capacity.
“The Iramoo Refuge [in Werribee] is always at a capacity of 75 people, but that’s just the number of young people who can get to bed.”
MCM head of youth homelessness services Anna Paris said the issue of youth homelessness in the area is often “invisible“ and that many young people leave the area to find places to stay.
“Most young people want to stay in the area, they love their community, they love the western suburbs and would remain in the Wyndham community if they had the option,” Ms Paris said.
“Many young people may be couch-surfing from one place to another or leaving the area to go to the CBD in the hope of finding crisis accommodation or a refuge bed.”
According to MCM’s 2024 snapshot survey, over a third of young people who access MCM’s youth homelessness services were born overseas, which Ms Paris said was particularly noticeable in Wyndham.
“The lack of appropriate, safe and affordable housing and support in Wyndham compounds this,” she said.
“Young culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) people often lack the financial and support means to secure housing along with dealing with significant discrimination in the housing market.”
She said that LGBTQI+ young people were almost twice as likely to be homeless compared to their peers.
“Many LGBTQI+ young people in Wyndham experience higher levels of family rejection, conflict and violence, and often homelessness is the only option for staying alive, seeing many leave home too early,“ she said.
Homelessness Australia spokesperson Kate Colvin said the new campaign will help drive necessary change.
“As we head into an election, we need strong commitments from all sides of politics to fix youth housing,” she said. “Every homeless young person who can’t return home needs safe housing and support.”
Jaidyn Kennedy
