Mission Australia has welcomed the National Youth Commission’s report into youth homelessness and supported its call for establishing a National Homelessness Strategy along with a range of other measures to tackle the problem.

Mission Australia – which last year assisted more than 70,000 people across its youth and housing support services – said the report, Australia’s Homeless Youth, accurately exposed the scale of the problem and offered a range of solutions for moving ahead.

Mission Australia’s Acting CEO, Mr Lincoln Hopper, said youth homelessness was a serious blight on Australian society.

“When the number of homeless teenagers doubles in 20 years – despite us achieving record levels of prosperity in that time – then something is seriously wrong,” said Mr Hopper.

“But while the problem is on the increase, it’s not insurmountable, and the recommendations in the report – along with costings – provide us with a good start for bringing homeless numbers down.

“Mission Australia firmly believes that the eradication of homelessness in Australia must be our goal – and we can achieve it. Given that young Australians make up almost half the total number of the country’s homeless, and considering their extreme vulnerability, we must find the willpower and resources to start helping them first.”

Mr Hopper said there were a range of practical solutions that could be introduced that would help drive down the numbers of homeless young people.

“The report’s recommendation to roll-out the successful Reconnect and HOME Advice programs is absolutely on the money. We’d also suggest there are a range of other support services that could be introduced to complement both initiatives.

“For example, Reconnect is all about working with families to reduce conflict and reconcile parents and their kids in order to prevent youth homelessness.

“Sometimes, giving a teenager some ‘time out’ from home – just for a week or two – allows for breathing space where problems can be more effectively addressed.

“To this end, Mission Australia is very interested in the Supported Lodgings or Nightstop program that’s been operating successfully in the UK, particularly over the last few years.

“Under Nightstop, homeless young people stay temporarily at the house of a carefully screened volunteer. This would allow Reconnect’s highly skilled staff do their job and work on the issues at the heart of the parent-young person conflict even more effectively.

“It’s a valuable alternative to young people entering the emergency accommodation system. We want to avoid young people getting caught up in the cycle of homelessness as much as possible.

“It also helps harness local community resources. Many community-members want to support homeless young people but don’t know how. This approach keeps young people in their community, and in a safe environment, while giving them and their family the ‘time out’ they need.

“We also need to do better at integrating the support services available for young homeless people or those at risk of homelessness.

“One option for some homeless young people is creating youth ‘foyers’ – that is, services that offer a range of supports and life skills to young people depending on their individual situation and need.

“Foyers are quite common in the UK and France and play a leading role, not only in providing bed-sit accommodation and other services, but also links to employment, education and training.

“This latter point is particularly crucial and one which Mission Australia is glad to see the NYC report picked up – that for young homeless people to truly participate in the community they must have access to employment, education or training opportunities.

“It’s also important to make sure that, in regards to accommodation services, we offer young people ‘stepping stones’ for making their way back into the community.

“At the moment, a homeless young person might receive help for three months at a crisis service and then get placed in more long-term accommodation – which supposedly ends the problem.

“But how can that be? Common sense and experience tells us that three months in a crisis service isn’t going to be enough to tackle the problems that lie at the root of someone’s homelessness – particularly if, as is often the case, these young people have suffered significant trauma, abuse and neglect over many years.

“They need to be able to move to more medium-term supported housing, before making the leap to independent living – a ‘stepping stone’ – or we’ll find that in another 12 months the person is going to be homeless again.

“Providing linked services as ‘stepping stones’ for young people is extremely important because it gives them the time and space to develop relationships, build self-confidence, and recognise that their future can be different.

“And in terms of building an integrated network of care, we need to support teachers and schools, as well as health services, to help them play a much greater role in preventing homelessness among students and young patients.

“The report’s call for the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission to conduct an inquiry into the number of young people leaving state care who become homeless is also to be applauded.

“The thing to keep in mind through all this is that we can’t treat homeless youth as one homogenous group. The needs of a homeless young person in Kings Cross are going to be different to a young homeless Indigenous person in a remote Northern Territory community.

“Our response as a community must recognise this diversity and be flexible enough to deal with each individual problem or else we’ll not be effective.

“The NYC youth homelessness report is a clarion call for action. At a time when homelessness has never been more on the nation’s agenda we must grab the opportunity to make a difference.

“Mission Australia congratulates the Caledonia Foundation (which funded the report) and the National Youth Commission on producing, Australia’s Homeless Youth, and looks forward to working with them, all levels of government, the business sector and other agencies in delivering its recommendations,” said Mr Hopper.

Media inquiries: Paul Andrews (02) 9219 2080 or 0409 665 495