Homeless youths using dating apps to find a bed for the night
NEED a place to crash, swipe right. Desperate young homeless people are turning to Tinder and other dating apps just to get a bed for the night.
South East
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DESPERATE young homeless people are using Tinder and other dating apps just to get a bed for the night.
Homeless youngsters from Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula are swiping right in the hope of finding somewhere to sleep for a night.
The Salvation Army’s Tatiana Croft said the situation was dire for homeless youths and more crisis accommodation was urgently needed.
“Some people will use Tinder or dating sites to get a warm place to sleep at night,” she said.
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Ms Croft said vulnerable young people risked emotional, physical or sexual abuse.
“Imagine this happening to your son, your daughter, your nephew, your niece, your sister or your brother,” she said.
“It should not happen to any young person, but here it does happen daily.”
Ms Croft said homeless youths risked falling into a cycle of isolation, poverty and disconnection.
In the Frankston and Mornington region alone there were currently 220 homeless young people on record, she said.
“It’s not okay for young people to be homeless,” Youth Support and Advocacy Service CEO Andrew Bruun said.
The shocking story was revealed during a packed forum to launch the ‘Youth2’ campaign, lobbying governments for funding to set up youth crisis accommodation centres in Rosebud and Frankston.
Several young people who had previously been homeless told the forum that support from agencies including headspace had been vital to getting their lives back on track.
Speakers said family breakdown including violence and neglect were key factors causing the spiralling numbers of homeless youths.
Frankston state MP Paul Edbrooke said it was essential the issue was tackled.
“It (the lack of youth crisis accommodation centres) is an indictment in itself,” he said.
“It’s time to deal with these issues instead of pushing them into the ocean and thinking they don’t exist.”
More: youth2.org.au
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