By Mikayla van Loon
A sense of shock and frustration met over 300 students from Billanook College as they learnt about the extent of youth homelessness in Australia.
Joining The Salvation Army to form the number 45,850 on the school’s oval, representing the number of children and young people who will be homeless across the country on any given night, it was an attempt to raise awareness for Homelessness Week 2024.
One student said there was often a misrepresentation of homelessness because the most common visual was rough sleeping on the streets of Melbourne.
“Whenever you’re in the city, you only really see adults or older people as homeless, you don’t see young people as much being the ones sleeping outside shopping centres,” he said.
Another student commented on the emotions it brought about, hearing the stories of people her age not having a permanent home.
“It makes me feel really sad to know how many people are suffering, especially because me and all of my classmates are really lucky,” she said.
“I didn’t know that that many people were homeless, let alone, youth numbers were that high so that was really shocking and eye opening.”
A fellow student expressed how “annoyed and frustrated” she was that “we live in a society that allows this suffering and homelessness to happen”.
Territorial schools engagement manager Grace Davidson said young people were some of the most vulnerable to homelessness but many people were unaware of the scale of the issue.
“Connecting with students allows us to educate young minds on the big issues their peers are facing, what they can do to help those experiencing homelessness and address the issue, and how they can seek help if they find themselves in need,” she said.
Students heard from both a local Salvation Army representative about services within their community and from Major Brendan Nottle who shared the broader impact of The Salvation Army’s work to support young people facing homelessness.
“Many of the students expressed shock, sadness and frustration at the scale of the issue. The students were extremely engaged in Major Nottle’s presentation, showing a deep care for those experiencing or at risk of homelessness,” Ms Davidson said.
The Salvation Army is one of the largest providers of homelessness services in Australia and with a specific youth homelessness arm, it provides 10 crisis refuges supporting 4500 young people each year.
“Children and young people should have the freedom and opportunity to grow up in safe environments,” Salvos’ youth services general manager Natalee O’Brien said.
“Most importantly, they deserve to feel safe at home. The sad reality is that there are many children without a safe place to live.”
The Salvation Army’s National Stream Report showed that between January and April 2024, 2500 young people were assisted, 47 per cent relating to housing issues and overall youth services increased by 11 per cent.
In 2023, of the 38,000 people assisted who were at risk of homelessness, 16 per cent had accompanying children aged 14 and under.
“If it was one young person who was homeless in this nation, that is one too many but to hear that it’s 45,850, and it could well be more than that now, is an absolute blight, it’s an indictment on our nation,” Major Nottle said.
“As a nation, we need to say ‘not good enough’ and we need to do everything we can to not only get young people housed but to actually get the support around them.”
Major Nottle’s key message to any young person on the verge of homelessness or experiencing it currently was “we see you, you’re not invisible, we hear you, you’re not voiceless and we are here for you”.
