Aug 7, 2024 | Youth homelessness
Almost a quarter of Australia’s homeless population is aged between 12 and 24. Last year, nearly 40,000 children and young people found themselves without a safe place to call home. Often overlooked in a system built for adults, these young people face immense...
Jul 24, 2024 | Impact stories, Youth homelessness
As a child, Layla’s* home was filled with fighting. She and her four siblings grew up in constant fear of how her parent’s arguments would end. “It was a scary time of my life,” she reflects. “The fighting would get so bad that most things in our house were broken or...
Jun 11, 2024 | Home page, Impact stories, Youth homelessness
Astrid hadn’t planned to leave home. But when her relationship with her highly conservative family broke down, Astrid found herself walking for hours – in a pair of rapidly disintegrating slippers – to nowhere in particular. “I tried to sleep on a park bench, but it...
Jun 3, 2024 | Youth homelessness
Michelle Ackerman has worked across the youth, community and housing sectors for more than two decades. She joined Youth Off The Streets in 2021, initially focusing on youth justice and youth engagement programs. Today, she oversees our homelessness and other services...
May 14, 2024 | Domestic and family violence, Team Streets
For many young people, violence at home feels normal until one day it becomes a crisis, and they have no choice but to flee for their own safety – often taking very few belongings with them. “Many people think homelessness is that you just don’t have a home,” says...
