Developing models of good practice in meeting the needs of homeless young people in rural areas

Summary

While young people living in rural areas face many of the challenges confronting urban youth, they are distinguished by factors that make their experiences of homelessness distinctive. This includes particular difficulties in finding employment; tight rental housing markets; and fewer services for homeless young people. Services for homeless young people tend to be concentrated in larger regional centres. Governments, in partnership with communities, can take steps to address these issues, with the foyer models, developed and implemented in Europe, offering considerable potential as a practical strategy of dealing with homeless young people living outside the capital cities.


Project Number: 40160
Research Theme: Homelessness
Project Leader: Beer, Andrew
Funding Year: 2002
Research Centre: Southern

Description

This project aimed to develop models of good practice in dealing with homeless young people in rural areas. Homelessness is often considered to be a problem of the capital cities and major urban areas, but there is a growing awareness of the non-metropolitan homeless population. Conventional accommodation services and supports may not be appropriate for homeless young people in rural areas, but it may be impossible to provide specialist facilities due to the sparseness of the population and limited resources.

The shortage of both public and private rental stock in many non-metropolitan regions generates significant difficulties for many young people. Young people may become homeless because of limited housing opportunities in the private market and, once assisted, their transition from supported living to independence may be impeded by the same restricted access to stock. The researchers worked with accommodation support services in South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia to: document the pathways into, and out of, homelessness for rural youth; determine the special challenges confronting homeless young people in the country compared with those in the cities; examine the national and international literature on models of service delivery to meet the needs of homeless youth; document current practice within Australia; and, develop and test models for improving service delivery to this group.