Hope Street has put the call out to the Victorian government to help homeless youth and young families in the upcoming state budget.

Our recent Media Release on the Royal Commission into Family Violence: Report and Recommendations further highlighted the need to recognise and support the many young people experiencing homelessness due to family violence.  In the outer growth corridors of Melbourne this need has become urgent due to the lack of a first response centre in places like Melton.

In an interview with Melton Leader's Ami Humpage, Hope Street's Service Development Manager, Mandy Baxter, revealed that:

Just last week a couple were referred to Hope Street Melton because they had nowhere to go. They couldn’t get an appointment in the city for two weeks and without a first response centre in Melton, all we could do was put them up in a hotel for the night until we could find them a safe place to go outside of Melton.

In another news media article, Sumeyya Ilanbey from Star Weekly writes:

Melton's young people fleeing domestic violence face the obstacle that the closest emergency accommodation is about 30 kilometres away. 

...The [Royal Commission into Family Violence: Report and Recommendations] highlights the "major limitations" of youth refuges and the lack of them in growth corridors.

Our funding request to the state government to help us establish a 24/7 mobile outreach service in Melton that will work with our proposed emergency accommodation centre will assist at risk young people, in their own local communities. 

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20160405 - Melton Leader: Helping homeless youth
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