Granite Belt rental crisis fuelling youth homelessness, fears for personal safety

Experts say many of the region’s youngest and most vulnerable are being forced to couch-surf or live on the streets as the tough rental market makes it near impossible to secure their own housing.

Youth homelessness in the Granite Belt is on the rise as the rental demand in the region skyrockets. Photo: iStock

The Granite Belt remains in the grips of the Covid-induced housing and rental crisis, forcing many of the region’s most vulnerable in young people to couch-surf or live on the streets.

Experts say it has never been more difficult for youths to find a home in the region, with age and affordability being the two biggest barriers to them securing one of the limited rentals on the market.

Granite Belt Neighbourhood Centre service manager Jennifer Leigh said she’d noticed an increase in young adults aged up to 21 struggling to find a home over the past four months.

“One of the biggest factors of the younger cohort is that they don’t have a rental history,” she said.

Ms Leigh added that with no prior rental history and often casual or unstable employment, youths were not looked upon as favourably by owners when choosing a tenant.

With an address necessary to receive Centrelink payments, Ms Leigh said the worsening youth homelessness crisis left young people feeling disconnected and unwanted.

“They don’t have the life experience to deal with these things and be resilient,” she said.

Often left with few alternatives to couchsurfing or sleeping outside, Ms Leigh said the already at-risk youths were faced with concerns such as hypothermia, personal safety, and crime.

Crisp Real Estate Principal Normal Crisp said in the Granite Belt there was more demand than supply for rentals which was making it increasingly difficult to land a rental home.

“A huge part of the rental problem is so many of the rental properties in the region are becoming owner occupied as more people relocate here,” he said.

The housing crisis has gripped much of the Southern Downs sine Covid first struck last year, with many other areas of the region reporting similar concerns.