Andrew Giles MP visits Hope Street  

Hope Street Youth and Family Services was delighted to show local Federal MP Andrew Giles, the Member for Scullin, the build site for the First Response Youth Services Refuge in the City of Whittlesea this April. Andrew has been a strong supporter of Hope Street’s Youth Services, and he was able to see the significant progress that has been made. This refuge will have a positive impact on young people and young families in the area. On any night, around 28,200 young people across Australia are experiencing homelessness. On census night 2021, 854 people were recorded as being homelessness, only in the City of Whittlesea. (ABS, 2021). This First Response Youth Refuge design allows young people and young families to have access to features and amenities that optimise trauma informed wellbeing and approach to practice in the local community.  

Katie Hooper from the Hope Street team was able to show Andrew Giles that the new Hope Street centre in the City of Whittlesea will feature 12 beds, plus a staff sleep over room, ensuites and 2 family units which will support over a hundred young people including children each year to have a safe place when they are experiencing homelessness. In this growth corridor, young people and young families that experience homelessness will receive a nation leading response with wrap around services to support their well-being during their time of crisis. Andrew Giles was interested to discuss this therapeutically designed safe place to be part of the local community that can deliver quality services following a young person’s experience of insecure housing and homelessness.  

This specially designed youth refuge centre will feature: large windows to optimise natural light; a dedicated bathroom; ensuites; art and craft space; open plan living; visibility to landscaped garden from all windows; visibility of people and spaces; warm and soothing materials; water features; gardens that grow nutritious home-grown vegetables and herbs. 

Community is at the heart of Hope Street’s response to the crisis of child and youth homelessness in Victoria.  Notably, 22% of Hope Street clients were born overseas and this program and refuge when up and running will offer wrap around support that reflects the needs of the local community and is tailored to the individual needs of young people and young families. 

The dedicated case management team will support young people to set goals in 5 core areas to increase living skills, health and wellbeing, education and employment; as well as cultural and community connection, Hope Street is committed to delivering this leading project in partnership with the Victorian Government and City of Whittlesea and with the tremendous support of the local community.  

“Following on the from success of the outcomes achieved by the Melton First Response Youth Refuge, it has been great to have the support of the local Federal Member Andrew Giles on this important project to respond to crisis of youth homelessness.  This First Response Youth Service Refuge is set to be a strong part of the local community that will provide necessary outreach and refuge to many young people. Given this national emergency is impacting the most vulnerable citizens, governments with wider community support need to be bold and significantly invest and prioritise this action. Hope Street achieves outcomes for young people and young families and this model of service delivery should be guaranteed by protecting it in Federal legislation to address child and youth homelessness specifically." - Donna Bennett, Chief Executive Officer at Hope Street.  

Highlights from the 'All Staff Day,' at the Melton Council Youth Centre celebrating 'Everyone Belongs,' on Harmony Day.

On 21 March 2024 Hope Street staff teams were invited to an all-staff day to listen to and provide feedback about their program and wellbeing, hear about the progress on strategic priorities such as Whittlesea, growth and more, and to have some fun and team development. All this in the context of Harmony Day when we acknowledged diversity and the importance of belonging by wearing the colour orange.   

It was also an opportunity for Hope Street's staff to come together and reflect on 'Everyone Belongs,' and their team's contribution to advocacy and wrap around service support for young people and young families experiencing homelessness. It was an opportunity for staff across the multiple sites to come together and share program highlights, identify service delivery gaps, explore solutions and focus on getting to know hat everyone brings to the team. Hope Street’s commitment to belonging ensures that staff feel accepted, included, and valued within the workplace. It is within this spirit the Hope Street Well-Being Working Group conducted activities with the team members to enhance belonging to the Hope Street community.  

A highlight was the shared experience of Saliah, Team Leader Development and Support, Melton Young Communities, who spoke of the importance of belonging and the West African drumming session by Frank, Team Leader Projects, also of the Young Communities team at Melton City Council. Frank drew the wonderful analogy of our drumming in teams using the West African, Djembe - each having our own individual and diverse beat but holding a base-beat to achieve our common purpose or rhythm. 

(Above Sue Scott, Nicole Misurelli, Paula Forrester, Frank, Donna Bennett and Saliah) 

 
This 'All Staff Day,' took place at City of Melton Youth Centre and the First Response Youth Service Refuge Melton where staff received a tour of the facilities and pizza lunch. Not all staff had seen the architect purpose designed youth centre and this was a great way to showcase the leading facilities provided by the First Response Youth Service Team. Some staff even got to continue the Hope Street Melton tour by visiting the Hope Street in Melton (Youth Foyer-like program) cluster model of 12 units providing stability and support for up to two years for young people and their children.   Focus is on developing essential living skills through experiential learning and support in key areas such as: budgeting, cooking/cleaning, establishing routine, developing communication skills,  

 
Hope Street thanks the Melton City Council Youth Services for providing a venue for the Hope Street All Staff Harmony Day and their warm support welcoming our team to their centre and community in the heart of Melton.  

Hope Street has joined a coalition of nearly 100 organisations demanding the federal government do more for youth homelessness. With fresh figures revealing the extent of youth homelessness, the campaign, ‘Home Time,’ has called on the Commonwealth to develop a national pool of 15,000 dedicated youth tenancies for 16 to 24 year-olds. The launch of the ‘Home Time,’ campaign has landed alongside a letter to the Federal Housing and Homelessness Minister Julie Collins. The letter calls for three key policy reforms “to fix housing for young people in Australia,” and has been signed by 81 homelessness peak bodies and organisations, including Hope Street.

The letter calls on the Commonwealth government to –

·  Develop and maintain a national pool of 15,000 dedicated youth tenancies for 16-24 year olds

·  Provide linked support services to enable young people to pursue their individual goals and transition to full independence

·  Address the rental gap to ensure viability for housing providers and landlords offering tenancies to young people who have been homeless

“Whilst there is an urgent need to address youth homelessness through a dedicated portion of social and public housing specifically designated to young people, 15,000 is still far below what Australia actually needs to accommodate for young people experiencing homelessness. Hope Street is supportive of the Home Time campaign and policy reform on a social housing to address youth homelessness on a federal level, and strongly advises that it must be needs based process to reflect the high levels of youth homelessness present in Australia. Reform on social housing must accommodate the high percentage of young people on social and insecure incomes and needing homelessness services as well as affordable public and social housing. Everyday hundreds of young people rely on homelessness services for support, a dedicated portion of youth focused designed social housing must be constructed/secured to meet this demand and provide the duty of care to support vulnerable young people. With this support is the need for a dedicated support system that links young people with their goals and independence for a brighter future.”   - Donna Bennett, Chief Executive Officer, Hope Street.

In the words of Brian Burdekin, AO. “Following my National Inquiry on Homeless Children I appealed to the Australian High Court to change Australian law to implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The High Court ruled that the Australian Government must respect the rights of all children set out in that important Convention —including the right to adequate housing.”

We won! Led by Homelessness Australia’s campaign, the Federal Government will extend the 73 million funding to respond to the homelessness crisis. In solidarity with peak service providers and the Australian Services Union, an Open Letter to the Hon. Julie Collins, Federal Housing and Homelessness Minister and the Housing and Homelessness Ministerial Council, has resulted in the Federal Government’s guarantee to not decrease Federal homelessness funding. Hope Street is pleased that the necessary Federal funding support will be secured for the sector to respond to homelessness services demand, which is needed for the community to have a compassionate response to homelessness. The very exciting news this time around is that now the funding has been wrapped into the base amount of money in the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA). This is an important step towards more equitable funding for homelessness services, but it is necessary to acknowledge that young people and their families should not be left behind when it comes to homelessness services.

“In 2021–22, Victorian homelessness services assisted 102,000 people – that's 37 per cent of total clients nationwide. A long-term vision for homelessness service providers is socially and economically viable, as it is well-resourced service providers that address key areas to prevent vulnerable people falling through the cracks. This reduces the economic, health, and social cost later through an investment in a person’s life early to secure their wellbeing and opportunities for social and community participation, including cultural connection, healthcare, employment and education.” -  Donna Bennett, Chief Executive Officer.

There is an ongoing need to guarantee funding allocations and resources for youth specific homelessness services which provide valuable social housing and sustainable housing options with wrap-around supports for young people to achieve their goals and access secure housing options.

“Homelessness and housing service providers need to receive priority by Federal, State and Territory Governments, and not be side-lined when responding to the housing crisis as they are embedded into the community already. This funding guarantee will support service providers to continue their important work across Australia, but more needs to be done to respond to the on-going increase in demand for homelessness services, especially for young people and their families. The community needs a compassionate and well-funded response to homelessness which caters to the specific needs of vulnerable young people. For young people and their children, the experience of homelessness young has life-long consequences. It’s time for a compassionate response to the homelessness crisis with long-term investment.”- Donna Bennett, Chief Executive Officer.

OPEN LETTER TO THE HON. JULIE COLLINS, FEDERAL HOMELESSNESS AND HOUSING MINISTER AND THE HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS MINISTERIAL COUNCIL.

Ministerial Communique

Media response to the Open Letter