Ms ROSOL question to MINISTER for CHILDREN and YOUTH, Mr JAENSCH
According to Mission Australia’s 2024 Youth Homelessness Report released today, almost 1 in 10 15- to 19‑year‑olds experienced homelessness last year. The report paints a desperate picture, with homeless young people at higher risk of isolation, mental illness, lack of money for essentials, education difficulties and much more. We know almost 1000 Tasmanians under the age of 25 were homeless in 2021. Earlier this year, Youth Homelessness Services said they were at breaking point, overwhelmed by demand and lacking the resources to cope with the complexity of issues and the level of need.
Will you develop a comprehensive youth housing strategy so that resourcing is not crisis‑driven? Will you also ensure adequate funding is included in this Budget to effectively address youth homelessness?
ANSWER
Honourable Speaker, I thank the member for her question. I also thank Mission Australia, and Jurek Stopczynski and his team for the important work they do with young people across Tasmania. We deal with them regularly. We are working with them on new, innovative models for providing support and homelessness support particularly for young unaccompanied people who turn up at shelters that are not suited for them. We look forward to continuing to work with them through the changing, challenging area of providing accommodation for unaccompanied youth in our community.
I will briefly recap some of the work my colleague, Mr Ellis, and I have both been involved with in terms of providing support for young people experiencing homelessness. I note that Homes Tasmania is funded to partner with community organisations to deliver housing and homelessness services in Tasmania. They may present alone or be accompanied by their parent or guardian.
Our government, through Homes Tasmania, oversees a number of housing and homelessness services for children and young people, including crisis and transitional accommodation, including in emergency accommodation, the Youth to Independence supported accommodation, backyard units to support young people to remain safely with their families, family violence rapid rehousing, and social and rental housing assistance.
Recent new facilities and capacity for children and young people delivered by Homes Tasmania include a 23‑unit youth crisis and transitional accommodation facility in Burnie; an eight‑unit youth at risk centre in the north; a 23‑unit youth to independence facility in Hobart; 15 units of youth to independence homes on three sites statewide.
Our government delivered the Under 16 Lighthouse Project in 2023 to pilot a therapeutic residential model of care for young people aged 12 to 15 years. Homes Tasmania is currently completing more youth to independence accommodation to be delivered in 2024, including completion of a new 25‑unit youth to independence facility in Burnie, five units of youth to independence homes in Burnie and 10 supported share homes for young people statewide.
We know there is more to do. We also know that the circumstances of young people and their families keep changing. We work closely with Mission and other providers, with Homes Tasmania and the Department for Education, Children and Young People (DECYP), our Child Safety service.
It is also part of our youth justice reform process because we understand that housing insecurity is a factor in youth offending. It is addressed and understood under our youth justice reform agenda as one of the things we need to get right. That is one of the reasons we have a whole‑of-government taskforce looking at our Youth Justice reform priority, because it is not just about the Youth Justice team and DECYP’s work. Housing, Justice, Health and Education are part of it too.
The SPEAKER – The minister’s time has expired.
