Requests for urgent assistance from BYS,a specialist youth crisis and support service with six locations across Brisbane,have risen by 88 per cent in the last four years,with the organisation seeing up to 40 people per day at their Fortitude Valley hub.
Barker said the demographic of young people needing help had also shifted.
“[There are] young people who are at uni coming to us,young people who are employed coming to us,saying ‘I’m homeless.’ They might be working part-time and getting Youth Allowance,but it’s just not enough,” she said.
Amid a statewide shortage of social and affordable housing,those escaping family or domestic violence were particularly affected,with 73 per cent of young people coming to BYS saying they had experienced violence.
In response to the crisis,BYS has today launchedNot For Rent,a fundraising appeal to support young people sleeping rough.
Digital creative agency Flip,which shares a street with BYS’s Fortitude Valley hub,helped design the campaign,which includes a faux real estate ad showing a sleeping bag “for rent” in Bowen Hills.
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“[This is] what a real estate ad looks like for young people who don’t have much funds or rental history. They are literally looking at the street,” said Emily Nunes,BYS’s head of marketing and communications.
Queensland’s largest signage company goa is also supporting the campaign,donating $260,000 worth of digital billboard advertising across Brisbane,including in the CBD,in front of Newmarket Village and above one of the city’s busiest intersections in the Valley.
Funds raised through the appeal will go to BYS’s work,including housing and homelessness support,primary and mental health support and youth domestic violence specialist services.
“We know that with our young people,when they’re supported and put in supported housing,all these other social issues tend to fade away,” Barker said.
“Young people need early intervention and prevention. If we can divert young people from the homelessness system,we’ll be decreasing the numbers of adults who are homeless.
“Homelessness needs to be brief,rare and nonrecurring. We need a system that picks you up when it happens,quickly finds the right solution that’s tailored to you and then puts you on a path to exit.”