More than half of homeless people in NSW are teenagers

An ever-increasing number of homeless teens find themselves seeking shelter on friends’ couches and youth refuges amid a crippling housing crisis.

They are the new face of homelessness but their stories are hard to come by as a growing number of teens find themselves seeking shelter on friends’ couches and youth refuges amid a crippling housing crisis.

The Telegraph spoke to two young women living in charity accommodation after years spent on couches, on the sides of highways or in dysfunctional families.

These women represent a horrifying statistic — 51 per cent of those living in homelessness are young people.

The epicentre of the trend is Sydney’s west, where the number of people facing homelessness has increased by almost 60 per cent since 2011, compared to a 48 per cent increase in Greater Sydney, 37 per cent in NSW and 14 per cent nationally.

Western Sydney’s homelessness crisis is being driven by rapidly dwindling rental vacancies, with the rate of vacancies dropping from 2.2 per cent in October 2021 to 1.3 per cent in October 2022.

The weekly cost to rent a two-bedroom property in the area shot up from $300-$390 in October last year to $350-$460 in November this year.

Cumberland local government area had the largest homeless population — more than 3000 people — followed by Canterbury-Bankstown at 2582 and Fairfield, 2226.

Jessika Helmers, now 20, was homeless for much of her childhood. Picture: Jeremy Piper

But charities say the trend is being felt across the entire state, with Homelessness NSW chief executive Trina Jones saying 51 per cent of those experiencing homelessness were young people.

“It’s increasingly because of a lack of affordable rentals, family breakdowns, families not being able to manage the stress of the rising cost of living and that contributing to breakdown in the home,” she said.

“I spent last week talking to young people who were homeless in Sydney and they are blaming themselves for being homeless at age 16.”

Tiarna Downes, 19, was just 15 when family conflict pushed her out of her mother’s home and into her aunty’s before she moved to live with her sister and eventually landed at a refuge. “I got into the refuge when I was 16,” she said. “I felt like I wasn’t going anywhere, I wasn’t going to make it.”

Ms Downes said homelessness meant she never got to experience being a child.

“I had to mature and grow up fast to look after myself. I wasn’t really a child when I was supposed to be,” she said.

Tiarna Downes was homeless when she was just 15 years old. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Jessika Helmers, 20, spent the early years of her life being pushed out of rentals her mother — who had substance abuse issues — could not afford or keep, before being forced to sleep on the side of highways.

“There were many parts where she (Mum) couldn’t afford the rent because she spent money on drugs, so we wouldn’t have a home or she’d be kicked out so we lived in cars or caravans parks or on the side areas of highways,” she said.

“I rarely had consistent schooling.”

At 13, Ms Helmers was forced to live with her dad and stepmother before being moved to her grandfather’s.

She said it was when she finally moved in with foster carers that she experienced the stability many of her peers had known for years.

Now, she lives at Youth Foyer — the leading form of crisis accommodation for homeless young people and a model the not-for-profit sector is desperately trying to expand.

Youth Foyers combine studio apartments with education facilities and other support services.

Youth homelessness charity Platform Youth Services’ internal data shows the biggest chunk of clients were seeking homelessness support because of the housing crisis, including evictions, followed by relationship and family breakdown and financial difficulties.

“It’s a difficult world they are living in,” Platform Youth Services’ chief Stephanie Oatley said.

“It’s a very difficult task to live independently when there’s no available housing, no affordable rents and you’re being blocked by landlords.”

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