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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 09 Hansard (Tuesday, 17 August 2004) . . Page.. 3730 ..

Leave granted.

MR WOOD: Today I present the government’s response to the issue of youth homelessness in the territory and the suggested need for a youth night shelter. Youth homelessness is a matter of deep concern to us all. We know that young people become homeless for a range of reasons, including family breakdown, abuse and violence, drug and alcohol misuse, and mental health issues.

The effects of youth homelessness are equally confronting. Early school leaving, risk-taking behaviour, petty crime, permanent family breakdown, prostitution and drug use are all potential outcomes. National experts on youth homelessness Chamberlain and MacKenzie argue that youth homelessness occurs as a process not an event. They call it a “homeless career”. The longer a young person remains out of a home the more accustomed they become to being homeless. They mix with other homeless young people, begin to develop an identity as a homeless person, often sever ties with family and they see homelessness as a way of life. They become part of the homeless subculture.

Clearly, to respond effectively and act in the best interests of young people, we need to build coordinated and integrated service responses. We must encourage the service system to keep up with the changing nature of youth homelessness. It must provide prevention, early intervention and professional service responses, no matter at what stage of their homelessness.

One option proposed to address youth homelessness is a youth night shelter. In the most immediate sense a night shelter would provide a place where young people could take respite from sleeping rough and “doss” for the night. As winter temperatures plummet there is little debate about the need for overnight crisis responses for young people. However, our response must be proactive and informed, not reactive. A night shelter, if it is utilised as a doss house, will do nothing to address the causes and effects of young people’s homelessness or improve their chances of good life experiences.

Night shelters do not engage in professional case management, which is the signature of Supported Accommodation Assisted Program services, as they work with people to break cycles of homelessness. The needs of young people who are out of home for the first time, who may be unable to return home because they have had a fight with family or are intoxicated, are vastly different from those who are chronically homeless. As Chamberlain and MacKenzie note, it is not desirable to colocate young people at the start of what could be a homeless career with those in its final stages.

Other jurisdictions have been moving away from the doss house model, in recognition of its many problems. In fact, Matthew Talbot Hostel in Sydney, perhaps Australia’s best known shelter, has begun reducing bed capacity, providing private bedrooms and implementing case management in order to achieve better client outcomes, including moving people to independent units within the hostel.

Night shelters have traditionally been services in which minimal staffing levels result in low levels of safety and security. They are reported to have poor levels of engagement and consequently do little work to address issues associated with homelessness. They are

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