Youth Homelessness In Australia

1099 Words5 Pages
Youth homelessness The problem of homelessness is a serious issue in Australia. The Australian Human Rights Commission (2006) says that “homelessness is defined under Australian federal law as ‘inadequate access to safe and secure housing’.” According to the ABS (2011), the number of homeless people was 89,728 and 105,237 in 2006 and 2011 respectively. As can be seen from the statistics, the number of homeless people rose by approximately 17% during those five years. The homeless were classified into several main groups, youth, women and people with mental illness. Youth homelessness is a focus group, and they should get more attention. Youth homelessness is a controversial problem, but it could be prevented if programs attack this issue effectively.…show more content…
The first factor is from society. There are not enough houses to provide for young people. And unemployment leads to young people not being able to afford rent for a house. The second reason is personal problems. Teenagers are infatuated with playing computer games. Drug and alcohol addiction are important reasons of teen homelessness as well. However, the most dramatic problem is the family. Family relationship breakdown is notable. FAHCSIA (2012) justifies its view on family factors as the causes by providing data; 67% of teens left a home that had single-parent household or remarried families. Parents’ divorce or a mother or a father passing away leads to family change. Young people come into conflict with their single parent, which over time causes emotional break down. Teenagers find it difficult to deal with the relationship with new family members. In addition, family breakdown is a potential issue for violence. The Australian Human Rights Commission (2012) pointed out that 35% of young people cannot bear violence; they suffer from physical health problems and psychological health problems. Imperfect or complex family relationships and domestic violence leads to young people become…show more content…
Community management has an obvious benefits for dealing with youth homelessness as can be seen i in Canada. The community can manage and supervise families effectively. The family is a small group. The community is made up of families, narrowing the range means families can get more attention; it is easy to find and solve problems. For example, one community staff could focus on three to five families; he has enough energy to get more information from those families and solve the problems in time. This way could not only deal with family problems, but also can prevent youth homelessness. Australia faces to an emergency problem with youth homelessness. The number of teen homelessness tends to grow rapidly. It is contributed to the factors in society, the family and individuals. Family factors are a key reason. Therefore, the government and community should pay more attention to prevention and early intervention and set up more effective policies to control this issue.
Open Document