Youth Homelessness Matters Day: Youth Rez manager on youth homelessness in The Hills Shire

The manager of The Hills’ longest youth service warns Sydney’s ‘Garden Shire’ is not immune to the hidden crisis of youth homelessness and says more should be done to raise awareness.

The Hills may seem a world away from the homelessness crisis seen in parts of Sydney however, a manager of the region’s longest standing youth service ‘Youth Rez’ said the area wasn’t immune.

Youth Rez recently hosted an event at Castle Hill Showground to shine a light on the need for more transitional housing options in The Hills.

Michelle Comito, manager of the youth service, said there were only 11 NSW Government funded beds in The Hills to provide transitional housing options for homeless youth.

“This is not enough to cater for the need and because rentals are expensive in the area, young people result to leaving their community and moving to other areas,” she said.

“When young people have to leave their community due to lack of housing, they are also leaving their support networks, schools and friends.”

There are only eleven beds for homeless youth in The Hills.

One young person Youth Rez helped was Ivy (pseudonym), a 16-year-old Castle Hill resident who had to move out of the area because of the lack of transitional housing options in The Hills.

Ivy fled home after suffering constant verbal and physical abuse at the hands of her parents. She couch surfed at a number of friend’s houses until she was referred to Youth Rez.

But the lack of beds in The Hills forced Ivy to move into the Blacktown Council area.

“This meant Ivy had to change schools and learn to build new relationships as her friends in The Hills were further away,” Ms Comito said.

According to Ms Comito, situations such as Ivy’s are common and part of the reason why it is so hard to pinpoint exact data on youth homelessness.

The YouthRez team. (L-R): Michelle Comito, Sally Dalgliesh, Anna LoBartolo, Shai Mikus.

“Current statistics from the census and government departments don’t show exact youth homelessness within The Hills, instead a combined number of statistics that includes adults, youth and children is provided,” Ms Comito said.

“On any given night in NSW more than 9000 young people, aged 12 to 24, are homeless … (and) The Hills is not immune from this.

“Youth homelessness is a hidden crisis where youth may be moving from couch to couch without their teachers, sports coach or friends knowing.

“The Hills community needs to talk about these issues more so that young people feel safe enough to reach out for help.”

Youth Rez, along with support from the Hills Shire Council, hosted the SNAP Run + Outdoor Cinema event for Youth Homelessness Matters Day and National Youth Week on Thursday of this week.

This event was part of a broader push by YouthRez to shine a light on the hidden crisis of youth homelessness in Sydney’s Garden Shire.