A youth refuge being built in Werribee is on track for construction to be completed in September.
The Wyndham Street building, to be known as the West Refuge, will be run by Melbourne City Mission (MCM).
The state government has invested $3.5 million in the project, with the Property Industry Foundation and Hacer Group also contributing support.
The West Refuge will link in with MCM’s existing suite of youth homelessness programs, including its service hub in Braybrook.
It will provide emergency and crisis accommodation for up to 10 young people, and will be staffed 24 hours of the day.
It will also feature two family units and a children’s play area.
MCM general manager of homelessness, justice & family services, Wayne Merritt, said the West Refuge would also offer early intervention programs; parenting, education and living skills programs; and therapy using art, music and animals.
“The West Refuge is not just a bed for someone to stay in,” Mr Merritt said. “It’s the first of many stages where we provide wrap-around support aimed at stabilising and addressing the immediate needs, be that financial, support around mental health therapeutic supports that assist young people to start to heal and begin the process of moving forward from what’s happened in the past.”
More than $465,000 in services have been donated pro-bono to the West Refuge’s development, including from Turner & Townsend Thinc, Group GSA, Tract Consultants, PLP Building Surveyors, Morris Goding Access Consulting, Rider Levett Bucknall, Nationwide, Irwin, WSP, Hacer Group and Maddocks.
