YellowBridge tackles youth homelessness in Toowoomba with problem three times worse than it was in 2016

A Darling Downs not-for-profit working with youth services has described the youth homelessness crisis as “invisible” and is only getting worse.

A Darling Downs not-for-profit working with youth services has described the youth homelessness crisis as “invisible” and is only getting worse.

YellowBridge youth support worker Donita Bellette said in her decades of working in youth services she has never seen the problem as bad as it is now.

“I’ve been working in the sector for 20 years here in Toowoomba and the last two years the problem has exploded,” she said.

“The 2016 census revealed 130 kids a night (are homeless), but they’re old figures and we’re working in the youth sector at the moment and we feel it’s three times higher than that. It’s really quite difficult to know exactly how many are struggling because youth homelessness tends to be quite an invisible problem.

“Kids are staying a couple of weeks with friends here and there, they’re couch surfing, it’s not a visible crisis that we’ve got.”

YellowBridge youth support worker Angi Kuehnemann and program manager Donita Bellette have welcomed a $220,000 grant from Hand Heart Pocket the Charity of Freemasons Queensland to tackle youth homelessness in Toowoomba.

Aiming to provide a bed for every young person experiencing homelessness in Toowoomba by 2025, earlier this year housing disability support and home services provider YellowBridge received $220,000 in start-up funding from Hand Heart Pocket the Charity of Freemasons Queensland to launch Youth Matters program to provide accommodation for young people in Toowoomba experiencing homelessness.

Ms Bellette said the funding had been used to lease eight properties, housing 14 young people, and employ a full-time case manager for two years.

Ms Bellette said the program’s goal was to end youth homelessness in Toowoomba.

“Accommodating young people within the private rental market is something they can’t do themselves at the moment because it’s just too competitive and the rents are becoming very quickly very unaffordable,” she said.

“They’re basically being kicked out of the market so this is our way of helping them get a foot in the door.

“A few years ago we would have been able to get young people into social housing but with Covid-19 the social housing department in Toowoomba is at breaking point. It’s not something that we can see as an option any more because the wait time is almost two years at the moment.”

Ms Bellette said she hoped that after two years the program would attract more funding, as the problem was only getting worse.

Youth support worker Angi Kuehnemann said young people missed out on many opportunities if there was no stable accommodation in their lives.

“It’s unbelievable the opportunities it gives them, you can’t engage in employment or education if you don’t have somewhere stable to sleep,” she said.

“I think young people make better decisions when they know their options and they have someone they can talk to.”