MORE than one in 30 Victorian teenagers experienced homelessness for the first time during the pandemic, a Mission Australia survey suggests.
The organisation’s 2021 youth survey identified 3.9 per cent of respondents aged 15-19 had found themselves without a home during the health and social crisis.
Its Without a Home report shows that young people who faced homelessness during the pandemic experienced high levels of psychological distress, negative impacts on wellbeing, family conflict, and discrimination.
According to the report, young people were first-time homeless either with or without their families. They recently spent time without a fixed address, living in a refuge or transitional accommodation, or spent time away from home because they felt they couldn’t go back.
At a national level, the report found that twice as many women and girls, compared to men and boys, experienced first-time homelessness during the pandemic in 2020-2021.
Mission Australia’s Victorian State Director Nada Nasser said the survey results were “shocking”.
“While many of us had safe and secure homes during the pandemic, over one-in-30 young people in Victoria were driven into homelessness for the first time in their lives,” she said.
“This report also details just how harmful the experience of youth homelessness can be for a young person’s wellbeing, their life and their future.
“Young people who were homeless for the first time during the pandemic said they faced enormous psychological distress, family conflict and discrimination.”
Ms Nasser said that homelessness could often be isolating, destabilising and traumatic for young people and that “this can have a ripple effect on their lives without the right intervention”.
“Sadly, for Mission Australia’s practitioners and others who have been working with young people during the pandemic, these findings are not a surprise. Yet we must not accept this as just the way things must be,” she said.
“Being forced into homelessness at such a crucial age can mean missing out on important education and employment opportunities.
“The need for a comprehensive approach to end youth homelessness in Australia has never been more urgent.”
