Swinburne University of Technology - Melbourne Australia

No place like home - but no home to place

Story by Samantha Murray

When she was 15, Haley wanted to become a nurse. She dreamed of getting married, having children and living in her own home. Now, at 22, Haley's life is, quite simply, a nightmare. She sleeps rough in Sydney's inner-city parks and struggles to feed a $600-a-day heroin habit - the bitter end of the line after fleeing family neglect and domestic violence.

Haley's story is not uncommon. She is just one of 36,000 young Australians who have nowhere to live; her life is an unstable, unhealthy and dangerous mix of temporary accommodation in shelters and hostels, 'couch-surfing' with friends and passing acquaintances, or surviving out on the streets. It is a life of few prospects beyond the drugs she turns to for dull relief, and the crime or sex work that pays for the hits.

Now, an independent inquiry by the National Youth Commission (NYC) funded by the Caledonia Foundation and drawing on expertise from Swinburne University of Technology's Institute for Social Research (ISR), has managed to re-focus community and government attention on the crisis.

Launched in April 2008, the NYC inquiry's comprehensive report took a year to compile and involved 21 days of hearings in all states and territories, including regional centres. It gathered evidence from 319 individuals and received 91 written submissions, including seven from state government departments. The NYC also conducted four policy forums with another 60 key stakeholders from the homeless sector.

Associated with the inquiry was the widely publicised television documentary, The Oasis, which screened on the ABC. Together they have prompted a commitment from the Federal Government to review funding needs and to instigate a White Paper review of homelessness, due in September 2008.

The problems identified by the NYC inquiry are broadly similar to those reported in 1989 in the landmark Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) Burdekin Report - except that the problem has grown worse rather than been redressed. The number of young homeless people under the age of 25 has doubled to 36,000, and the figure for homeless teenagers, aged between 12 and 18, sits at 22,000.

It is these grim statistics that the new report's authors want to change. One of four commissioners leading the NYC inquiry was Associate Professor David Mackenzie of Swinburne's ISR. Associate Professor Mackenzie says that while the report is heavily modelled on its 1989 predecessor, it hopes to make real action possible by striking a middle ground between formal research and government policy.

"By bringing together principles and policy ideas with a strong focus on evidence, we can ensure that in 20 years' time another inquiry will not report that youth homelessness is still a disturbing problem," he says.

As well as upholding the human rights position taken by the HREOC inquiry, the new report, Australia's Homeless Youth, talks in terms of 'social citizenship' - the right of all people to have access to the requirements necessary for a reasonable life and community participation.

"There's a school of thought that says that in a fully functioning, free-market economy everybody makes a good living and nobody struggles. This simply isn't the case," Associate Professor Mackenzie says.

"The fact that the Australian economy has improved so substantially and unemployment is at an all-time low shows that these economic rules just don't apply to society's marginalised. Obtaining work is easy for some - while others are not even in the race."

Compounding the situation for young people is a housing crisis, where burgeoning rents and housing affordability are affecting the everyday lives of all Australians. An under-investment in public and community housing, and an ineffective mix of housing-market incentives, presents Australian governments with a major challenge.

The Salvation Army's Major David Eldridge chaired the NYC inquiry, drawing on his 28 years' experience and his role as an adviser to the Federal Government on social policy issues.

Major Eldridge says the wide media coverage of, and the positive public feedback on, the report is a good start to helping build community support. He says the next step is to bring the challenges to everyone's doorstep to ensure the right policies are put in place, in particular a large-scale strategic plan with sustained implementation.

At the report's launch, the Federal Minister for Housing, Tanya Plibersek, announced the allocation of $150 million to build 600 new houses for the homeless across the country over the next five years. It is proposed that the Australian Government's 'A Place to Call Home' strategy will minimise the time homeless families and individuals spend in crisis accommodation by providing new housing stock. They will also receive tenancy and other support services for the first 12 months.

"As Ms Plibersek said herself, this is really just a down-payment on future solutions," Major Eldridge says. "We need to see this as a long-term priority and approach these problems on a whole-of-government basis."

Major Eldridge, who is also on the board of Swinburne's ISR, says given the huge scale of the report, with its 10 core actions and staggering 80 recommendations, the next step is to take a closer look at some of the issues.

The ISR team is putting program costs under the microscope to determine the real budgetary requirements to address youth homelessness. Another discussion paper will look at employment services for homeless and disadvantaged young people and what major reforms to the existing Job Network might be required.

If the inquiry and the ongoing work being done by the ISR and other stakeholders is the 'head' of the homeless issue, then the 'heart' has been The Oasis, a documentary featuring Haley and other destitute young people.

The Oasis was made to complement the report and screened on the ABC to a national audience of one million people. For more than two years, the staff at The Oasis youth refuge in inner-city Sydney and seven homeless young people participated in the film, sharing their life experiences. Throughout production, the ISR acted as an adviser to The Oasis producers.

Associate Professor Mackenzie says that although the individuals profiled were chronically homeless, the film put a human face to marginalised young people who are otherwise ignored by the Australian community.