- Kids sleep in the streets
- By Susie O'Brien, Social Affairs Reporter
- The Herald Sun
- 31/03/2005 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: admin ( 47 articles in 2005 )
HUNDREDS of children as young as nine are sleeping alone on Melbourne streets.
More than 5000 Victorians under 20 are homeless and fending for themselves, federal figures show.
About 600 of these are former state wards aged between 12 and 15 who become homeless each year after leaving the child protection system.
A further 20,000 Victorian children are homeless but in the company of a parent or guardian.
The majority of these are children aged one to four, according to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data from those accessing the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program, or SAAP.
Welfare workers warn of a crisis in youth homelessness as the Federal Government threatens to cut $30 million from the SAAP program over five years.
"Young people have slipped off the agenda," Deb Tsorbaris, executive officer from the Council to Homeless Persons, said. "More urgently needs to be done, particularly for those leaving state care."
Salvation Army captain Brendan Nottle told the Herald Sun he has seen in recent days:
A BOY, 9, behind St Paul's Cathedral sleeping on old blankets;
A MOTHER sleeping in a doorway in Swanston St with a one-year-old child;
A GIRL, 17, who was 7 1/2 months pregnant sleeping on cardboard for a mattress.
A Melbourne Citymission audit found that in a two-week period last year, 339 people sought emergency accommodation but only 35 beds were available.
Crisis youth accommodation is usually full by 11am, with many young people sleeping rough while waiting for a place.
Older and less vulnerable people are given a hot meal and a few blankets and sent back out on to the streets. However, emergency accommodation only lasts six weeks, with many young people eventually ending up in cheap motel accommodation frequented by drug and alcohol abusers.
Salvation Army Crisis Accommodation Service team leader Richie Goonan said several young women and a growing number of young men became prostitutes to support drug habits.
"People who work in this area are aware of the very young girls who are sex workers, but there are also young men who are sex workers but who are flying under the radar," he said.
Stories from homeless young people will be launched today as part of a two-year University of Melbourne and UCLA research study called Project i.
Project i surveyed 700 young people who were homeless over a two-year period. It found two thirds came from single parent families and 43 per cent mentioned family violence as a reason for leaving home. Many had been sexually abused.
"But they are wanting what most people want. To belong, to be loved and to have a home and a job, and many are working hard to turn their lives around," VicHealth research director Dr Shelley Mallett said.
More than 5000 Victorians under 20 are homeless and fending for themselves, federal figures show.
About 600 of these are former state wards aged between 12 and 15 who become homeless each year after leaving the child protection system.
A further 20,000 Victorian children are homeless but in the company of a parent or guardian.
The majority of these are children aged one to four, according to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data from those accessing the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program, or SAAP.
Welfare workers warn of a crisis in youth homelessness as the Federal Government threatens to cut $30 million from the SAAP program over five years.
"Young people have slipped off the agenda," Deb Tsorbaris, executive officer from the Council to Homeless Persons, said. "More urgently needs to be done, particularly for those leaving state care."
Salvation Army captain Brendan Nottle told the Herald Sun he has seen in recent days:
A BOY, 9, behind St Paul's Cathedral sleeping on old blankets;
A MOTHER sleeping in a doorway in Swanston St with a one-year-old child;
A GIRL, 17, who was 7 1/2 months pregnant sleeping on cardboard for a mattress.
A Melbourne Citymission audit found that in a two-week period last year, 339 people sought emergency accommodation but only 35 beds were available.
Crisis youth accommodation is usually full by 11am, with many young people sleeping rough while waiting for a place.
Older and less vulnerable people are given a hot meal and a few blankets and sent back out on to the streets. However, emergency accommodation only lasts six weeks, with many young people eventually ending up in cheap motel accommodation frequented by drug and alcohol abusers.
Salvation Army Crisis Accommodation Service team leader Richie Goonan said several young women and a growing number of young men became prostitutes to support drug habits.
"People who work in this area are aware of the very young girls who are sex workers, but there are also young men who are sex workers but who are flying under the radar," he said.
Stories from homeless young people will be launched today as part of a two-year University of Melbourne and UCLA research study called Project i.
Project i surveyed 700 young people who were homeless over a two-year period. It found two thirds came from single parent families and 43 per cent mentioned family violence as a reason for leaving home. Many had been sexually abused.
"But they are wanting what most people want. To belong, to be loved and to have a home and a job, and many are working hard to turn their lives around," VicHealth research director Dr Shelley Mallett said.
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