8 April 2008
Melbourne welfare chief welcomes youth homelessness focus
The head of Melbourne's largest youth homelessness agency today welcomed "Australia's Homeless Youth" - the findings of a 12-month inquiry by the National Youth Commission - but said it was a travesty that 20 years on from the Burdekin inquiry, little had changed for young people on the margins.
Anne Turley, Chief Executive Officer of Melbourne Citymission, said the report demonstrated a level of intractability around the issues.
"Twenty years on from Brian Burdekin's Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission inquiry, what's changed?
"We've experienced a prolonged period of unprecedented economic growth, we're a more affluent country than we've ever been, yet the rate of youth homelessness has almost doubled since Burdekin's 1989 inquiry."
Ms Turley said "Australia's Homeless Youth" reinforced Melbourne Citymission's experience of a system under extreme stress, but urged against knee-jerk reactions to the report.
"Today, as the National Youth Commission hands down its findings, Australia stands poised at the cross-roads.
"The money that poured into the system in 1989, thanks to Brian Burdekin, was important but had limited effectiveness because it was not accompanied by major policy reform.
"For the first time in more than a decade, we have a Federal Government genuinely committed to tackling homelessness, and to making Australia a more inclusive nation. Let's do it right this time - I don't want to be sitting here in another 20 years, circling around the same issues."
Ms Turley said a major starting point for government would be to stop treating homelessness as an episodic occurrence in the lives of some people.
"The current system perpetuates crisis-led responses and a ‘revolving door' approach that is just not good enough. We need to look at how we support young people so that when they leave the homelessness system, they leave it for good.
"On a practical level, this means developing strong links between accommodation support and areas like health, education and employment.
"Past government efforts to do this have been patchy, at best. That's because there's been no real recognition of the fact that homelessness is more than just ‘rooflessness' - that housing instability is usually the culmination of a series of complex and unresolved issues relating to family violence, mental illness, drug or alcohol use, early school leaving, unemployment, or loss of social networks and supports.
"Unless a young person is given support to address all of their needs in a coordinated way, their attempts to rebuild their lives and gain independence will be frustrated.
"Melbourne Citymission calls for federal government departments to develop a new policy and service delivery mechanism that responds to this reality."
Ms Turley said Melbourne Citymission's research indicated that with the right supports, young people can move beyond the homelessness service system to independence and participation.
Melbourne Citymission's Frontyard service is a one-stop shop that looks at holistic solutions beyond crisis intervention. Frontyard's approach has proven - through research - to achieve cut-through with young people.
