Solving youth homelessness | Insiders: On Background — Transcript

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1. 0:00housing affordability has been one of
2. 0:02the biggest political issues over the
3. 0:04last two years since inflation mortgage
4. 0:06rates and rental prices all started
5. 0:08spiraling the plight of those trying to
6. 0:11buy a home or struggling to pay the rent
7. 0:13has certainly focused the attention of
8. 0:14many politicians but what about those
9. 0:17who don't have a roof over their head at
10. 0:19all the housing crisis has forced many
11. 0:22even some with full-time jobs to sleep
12. 0:24in their cars or tents in local parks
13. 0:27and then there are kids with low or no
14. 0:29income at all who just can't stay at
15. 0:31home for various reasons but are left
16. 0:33couch surfing or sleeping rough at a
17. 0:35critical time when they should be
18. 0:36supported and learning life skills
19. 0:38recent data suggests nearly a quarter of
20. 0:41Australians experiencing homelessness
21. 0:42are aged between 12 and 24 in the lead
22. 0:46up to the budget homelessness
23. 0:47organizations are calling on the
24. 0:48government to do more so what happens
25. 0:51when you're homeless where do you turn
26. 0:53and what can actually help turn your
27. 0:54life around welcome to Insiders on
28. 0:57background Bri Dorset and Tyra Chan
29. 1:00Hampton uh youth ambassadors for a group
30. 1:01called foyer Foundation an organization
31. 1:04that has changed their lives and they're
32. 1:06here in Parliament this week to well ask
33. 1:08the government to do more to help the
34. 1:10organization Bri Tyra welcome to both of
35. 1:13you good to chat thank you thank you D
36. 1:15Bri let me go first to you tell us as
37. 1:16much as you're comfortable about your
38. 1:18experience your journey through
39. 1:20homelessness to where you are now yeah
40. 1:22so growing up I experienced housing
41. 1:25instability a few different times but I
42. 1:27think the big moment for me was when I
43. 1:29was in my my year 12 VC studies um
44. 1:32holding down a part-time job trying to
45. 1:34get into University playing team sports
46. 1:36and then thrown into the mix was couch
47. 1:38surfing so yeah experienced couch
48. 1:40surfing for a period of two months um in
49. 1:44already quite a challenging time and
50. 1:46that was when I discovered it's an
51. 1:47incredibly pressured time year 12 yeah a
52. 1:50lot going on yeah especially with the
53. 1:52ambition of getting into University so
54. 1:54sitting exams and things like that um so
55. 1:57yeah very grateful to have found the fo
56. 1:59Foundation during that time and I'll
57. 2:01come back to how you found them Tyra
58. 2:03what about your journey yes so um I
59. 2:07actually was part of the out of Home
60. 2:08Care System um and I first experienced
61. 2:11homelessness when we had nowhere to live
62. 2:15and Anie had to come and look after us
63. 2:18from the Central Coast move to Sydney so
64. 2:20we stayed in a refuge for about 3 months
65. 2:23Sydney in Sydney um I was going through
66. 2:26year seven so I was just transitioning
67. 2:28out of primary school into high school
68. 2:31um so that was the first experience of
69. 2:33was also a huge time of life there's a
70. 2:35lot going on in that year seven age very
71. 2:38massive time in my life I think when
72. 2:40you've gone through something so
73. 2:41traumatic and then now you have nowhere
74. 2:43to go um it was just like where what's
75. 2:46happening right now what did you do so
76. 2:48look we were lucky after 3 months we we
77. 2:51did find housing um and it was just
78. 2:54through Housing Commission but it was
79. 2:56some somewhere we can go and call home
80. 2:58for a little bit Yeah and then
81. 3:00then unfortunately we also experienced
82. 3:04housing instability there very much
83. 3:06overcrowded I had to share a room with
84. 3:07my 2-year-old brother and it was just
85. 3:10way too much going through my
86. 3:12HSC um and then that's when my casew
87. 3:14worker at the time mentioned foyer and I
88. 3:17was very very lucky to um move in a year
89. 3:20later so before we get to foyer and what
90. 3:22it did for you guys you had a case
91. 3:23worker tell you about it what about you
92. 3:26Bri how did you get how did you find out
93. 3:29about foyer yeah um I found out through
94. 3:31a mutual friend who was at the time
95. 3:34living at foyer foundation so I was
96. 3:36connected with community service
97. 3:38supports but I experienced housing
98. 3:41instability when I was couch surfing it
99. 3:43was
100. 3:442017 um and the foury year in shepher
101. 3:46and where I'm from was built in 2016 so
102. 3:49it wasn't really pretty new wasn't well
103. 3:51known in the community which is a big
104. 3:53reason why I do a lot of advocacy um
105. 3:55just because I think my life would have
106. 3:56looked very different during those two
107. 3:58months if I had have known earli are so
108. 4:00yeah the services I was linked in with
109. 4:02as well as my school weren't able to
110. 4:04point me in the right direction and just
111. 4:05to for people who have no idea about
112. 4:08what it's like are you Keen to get that
113. 4:10help or is there any sort of fear or
114. 4:12nervousness reluctance to to seek that
115. 4:15help or you you're pretty desperate to
116. 4:17grab whatever um is available um
117. 4:20essentially I mean no one really wants
118. 4:22to start life behind the eightball I
119. 4:24guess and I think there's a massive
120. 4:25stigma around Youth and youth housing in
121. 4:27particular that um yeah we're
122. 4:31just uh Strays and you know we're off
123. 4:34we're up to no good in our youth and you
124. 4:36know that has been put on me A lot of
125. 4:38times I'm sure Tyra can relate yeah that
126. 4:40you know a lot of people go oh what did
127. 4:42you do to be kicked out of home when
128. 4:44it's like a young person doesn't want
129. 4:45that for themselves at all you know we
130. 4:47we need and want stable housing yeah
131. 4:50there's such a stigma around and I think
132. 4:52specifically for me as well being part
133. 4:55of the out of Home Care System a lot of
134. 4:57kids from out of Home Care end up in the
135. 4:59cycle of home H lessness and so there
136. 5:01was always that
137. 5:03like this expectation that because I'm
138. 5:06from the out of Home Care System I'm a
139. 5:09proud Ry woman that I'm already going to
140. 5:12be placed you know like already already
141. 5:14had that stigma you've seen that sort of
142. 5:17um pattern I suppose and stereotype yes
143. 5:20so you were pretty Keen to avoid that uh
144. 5:24and and grab this this opportunity so
145. 5:25tell us a bit about what foer is Bri
146. 5:29yeah um so the foyer I resided at Was An
147. 5:31Education First youth foyer so
148. 5:33essentially um it's an out of home care
149. 5:36facility for young people um between 16
150. 5:38and 24 um that are studying whether
151. 5:41that's an apprenticeship traineeship
152. 5:43school University um and it's for those
153. 5:46young people who are experiencing
154. 5:47homelessness or at risk of so what do
155. 5:49you get you get a
156. 5:51room with with what yeah so the uh
157. 5:54Shepherd and AR for as I mentioned was
158. 5:56relatively new in 2016 it was purpose
159. 5:59built so we housed 40 young people um
160. 6:02and we had our own private bedrooms with
161. 6:05a bathroom kitchenet as well as communal
162. 6:08areas designed um specifically for
163. 6:10building connection and Community with
164. 6:12the other young people and the staff um
165. 6:15I was very nervous going in there I'm an
166. 6:18only child plus couch surfing and then
167. 6:21realizing I'm going to live with 39
168. 6:22other people was a bit daunting um but
169. 6:25it was so secure um and and did you keep
170. 6:28going to school you're in your 12 at
171. 6:30this point I was yeah so I I actually
172. 6:32was able to finish my year 12 vce as
173. 6:35well as sit my exams um and get above my
174. 6:38clearly in for University and that was
175. 6:40game changer for me just because at the
176. 6:42time the support I was receiving from my
177. 6:44school was you're experiencing quite a
178. 6:47complex challenge right now perhaps it's
179. 6:50best for you to not do your exams and to
180. 6:52you know so they were suggesting maybe
181. 6:54not this year yeah come back when you're
182. 6:57ready yeah and um so it was yeah really
183. 7:00disheartening to not have that
184. 7:03opportunity from school but that's where
185. 7:05the foyer foundation so different they
186. 7:07say young people for who they are and
187. 7:09their strengths rather than a young
188. 7:11person with that stigma so do you have
189. 7:13someone there at Foya in in the setting
190. 7:15there in sheet and I mean obviously
191. 7:16you've got the room and uh that sort of
192. 7:19support but someone helping you with the
193. 7:21school side of things um the the the
194. 7:25skills that you're going to need to get
195. 7:26on and finish your 12 yeah so we have
196. 7:29Youth Development workers and we're all
197. 7:31assigned one um and they support us we
198. 7:34meet you know weekly or fortnightly um
199. 7:36and we also offered a certificate one in
200. 7:39developing indep Independence um and
201. 7:42that really changed the game for me so
202. 7:44that looks at things like your education
203. 7:47employment civic participation um which
204. 7:50was a big thing for me building
205. 7:51Connection in my community because it
206. 7:53was such a small Country Town um
207. 7:56Independent Living skills finances and
208. 7:58budgeting things like that so it um yeah
209. 8:01you know it not only allowed me to have
210. 8:03the basic necessities of a safe place to
211. 8:05go home but it gave me those skills to
212. 8:07really build a future where I could take
213. 8:09ownership and Thrive and was it a
214. 8:11similar um experience for you Tara yes
215. 8:14very very similar um I think the Boyer
216. 8:16alad in Sydney has a more of a focus
217. 8:19around kids who have exited the out of
218. 8:20Home Care System um so it's 18 to 24
219. 8:24that's the age bracket and um I think
220. 8:26for me it was very good cuz I was going
221. 8:29through my first year at Uni and I'm the
222. 8:32first person to go to UNI in my family
223. 8:34so I had no idea no thank you um had no
224. 8:38idea what to expect and I mean even the
225. 8:41simplest things of like enrolling for
226. 8:43classes like where I should go if I need
227. 8:47support Foya like your Youth Development
228. 8:50coach will sit there with you for
229. 8:52however long you need and just go
230. 8:54through every single part and I think
231. 8:56also scholarships was such a scary thing
232. 8:58for me scholarship apping y um I think
233. 9:02that was the biggest game changer for me
234. 9:04is like accessing that um and my Youth
235. 9:08Development coach sat with me and went
236. 9:10through every question wrote me a
237. 9:11beautiful reference um it's just a
238. 9:14little things that like as a young
239. 9:16person you're like what is happening and
240. 9:18then you can just have that role model
241. 9:20sit down with you and simply explain it
242. 9:24so where are you both at now Tara just
243. 9:26tell tell us what you want to um so I'm
244. 9:29currently in my fourth and final year at
245. 9:32University I'm studying a bachelor of
246. 9:34social work with honors right uh I now
247. 9:38also work as a caseworker at a small AO
248. 9:41um and started there and end of last
249. 9:44year after my third year placement and
250. 9:47it is incredible I work with Aboriginal
251. 9:49women and families um who need support
252. 9:53around Child Protection the criminal
253. 9:55justice system it's such a advocacy role
254. 9:59yeah um and then I also do some work
255. 10:01with the foyer Foundation yes about you
256. 10:04yeah I'm like Tyra I'm the first person
257. 10:06in my family to finish school and get
258. 10:08into University as well um so yeah I've
259. 10:11transitioned from The Little Country
260. 10:13Town Mera near sheeper and through to
261. 10:15Melbourne so I'm in the Big Smoke now um
262. 10:18studying a bachelor of politics
263. 10:19philosophy and economics um I work for a
264. 10:23social Enterprise known as homy
265. 10:26homelessness of melbour Incorporated
266. 10:27Enterprise so I'm the monitoring n Val
267. 10:29tion person there um so supporting young
268. 10:32people you know who have walked through
269. 10:34the path that I've The Experience bring
270. 10:37to that role so obviously you're here in
271. 10:39camber here in Parliament House uh to
272. 10:41call for more support for for foyer what
273. 10:44are you what are you
274. 10:46after yeah we're really looking um to
275. 10:50get some support behind the foundation
276. 10:52we'd love to see uh further 10 for years
277. 10:55invested so we can house over 3,000
278. 10:57young people you know just like myself
279. 11:00um yeah because at the end of the day
280. 11:03housing it's a human right well just on
281. 11:06that right because there's there's a lot
282. 11:08of um a lot of Demands on government to
283. 11:10do all sorts of things um and we do hear
284. 11:13focus on homelessness uh certainly from
285. 11:15time to time perhaps not as much as some
286. 11:17people might like um but looking at
287. 11:19Solutions is is something that um you
288. 11:22know often is missing I think from some
289. 11:24of the debate what would you say to the
290. 11:26Prime Minister Tara to other politicians
291. 11:29about uh homelessness and and where the
292. 11:31focus needs to be I honestly think like
293. 11:35for me for years changed my life like I
294. 11:37know for a fact I would not be where I
295. 11:40am today if it wasn't for my experience
296. 11:43at of foer and so many young people
297. 11:46deserve that opportunity to have a safe
298. 11:49stable home somewhere you can call your
299. 11:52community and just Thrive and I think
300. 11:55for me if I was speaking to the prime
301. 11:58minister I would really urge him to push
302. 12:02for more fyers out there so we can
303. 12:04provide safe and stable housing to young
304. 12:07people yeah and Bri similar message I'm
305. 12:10guessing yeah very similar I think um I
306. 12:14as a Small Town Country Girl
307. 12:15experiencing you know homelessness and
308. 12:17housing instability I think it's amazing
309. 12:20to see a prime minister that's come from
310. 12:21social housing um and I think that you
311. 12:25know I definitely wouldn't have found
312. 12:26the path that I'm on now without the
313. 12:28support of the fo found Foundation
314. 12:29funnily enough I've actually written a
315. 12:31letter to um the prime minister so would
316. 12:34love to absolutely meet with him and um
317. 12:36speak more about my lived experience
318. 12:38because I feel there's obviously some
319. 12:39synergies but you know there's just that
320. 12:43wraparound support and capacity building
321. 12:46and why for your works is it intervenes
322. 12:49with those generational Cycles it it
323. 12:50breaks those Cycles we become
324. 12:52contributing members to society you know
325. 12:54sitting right here in in CRA Tyra and I
326. 12:57um at Parliament House you know these
327. 13:00opportunities the potential is in other
328. 13:02young people that just haven't had the
329. 13:04opportunities as well well good luck to
330. 13:06you both and uh look thanks so much for
331. 13:08sharing your story really appreciate it
332. 13:10good to chat you David thanks making us
333. 13:13all feel very excited about being
334. 13:16here