Melbourne has become Australia’s youth homelessness capital with more than 15,000 needing help to keep a roof over their head.15,271 under-19-year-olds across the city reached out for assistance from homelessness services in the 2023 financial year, alarming figures revealed.
A shocking report from Homelessness Australia showed that a total of 18,828 Victorian children with a family or caregiver have sought help for homelessness in the same time frame — the highest number of any other state or territory. The state also had the second-largest number of unaccompanied kids in need of homelessness assistance across the nation.
Melbourne’s west had the most-disturbing youth homeless problem in the nation, recording the most people aged under 19 seeking help. It comes after Homelessness Week, aims to raise awareness of homelessness in Australia and the importance of building more social housing.
Homelessness Australia chief executive Kate Colvin said Melbourne’s homelessness services were so “profoundly overwhelmed” that sometimes, they’re having to close their doors at 11am because they simply couldn’t get to everyone.
Council to Homeless Persons chief executive Deborah Di Natale said both state and federal government’s were in an “incredibly alarming situation”, with more homeless children in Greater Melbourne than any other city or region in the nation.
“Statewide, there are more than 22,000 children who presented to homelessness services – a staggering figure which is a serious indictment on our capacity to provide the basic human right of housing,” Di Natale said.
