Perth and Mandurah youth homelessness hub Passages sees more demand amid housing crisis

As doors shut after a busy day at this inner-city safe haven for homeless young people, staff brace themselves for what they must tell those who had sought their help.

"Good luck out there," is what they are having to say more often than not.

"We can help you with your essential needs right now, but at the end of the day, here's a sleeping bag [or] here's a tent," says youth worker Ed Easter.

As more young people end up homeless in Western Australia, a coalition of youth and homelessness services is calling on the government to fund more centres like this one — the Passages hub in a quiet backstreet in Perth's inner city.

Until they secure that funding, services worry about those they are unable to reach.

Last year, about 750 children and young people aged between 12 and 25 years came to the Passages' Perth and Mandurah hubs — the majority of them for the first time.

About 250 of those young people were sleeping rough at the time they asked for help, and one in five disclosed they were dealing with an "adverse event" ranging from mental health issues to abuse.

"They can come in under the influence of alcohol and other drugs … in crisis because they're experiencing homelessness and hardship," said hub coordinator Aimee Robinson.

She said the "low barrier" service helped those who needed it most, and who might be turned away from other providers.

Providing the basics

Kaya was 13 when she found herself homeless as her father struggled with substance abuse.

She recalled how hard it was to find help, with police, child protection and her school not sure of what to do, leaving her ashamed and embarrassed.

"No-one knows how to handle it, so we hide a lot from that because we don't want to tell someone, because what are they going to do?" Kaya said.

Eventually, through friends, she found out about Passages, which she said created a "foundation" by providing basics such as food, showers and washing machines, as well as a way forward.

"When you're on the streets, you smell, you don't get access to showers, you don't have a home to go back to," Kaya said.

From that base, she said, it was easier to access other services.

Housing shortage

Services like Passages should help until people can be moved into longer-term accommodation.

But its work is becoming more complex as WA's years-long housing crisis pushes more people into homelessness and crisis accommodation for young people runs short.

"Usually, the things that led to them being homeless, we can fix them as well or work on them or support them with it," Mr Easter said.

"But doing it from a place of rough sleeping is extremely difficult."

Mr Easter said despite trying "not to take stuff home", the work was increasingly difficult.

"And no, is the answer. So that's tough."

This month, the youth homelessness support services sector identified that on a typical night, for the 73 young people recorded as sleeping rough, there were only three available beds — and the beds that opened up often had strict eligibility criteria.

"Accommodation may want them to go to like a rehab or a mental health facility before [they got a place]," youth worker Marilyn Scott said.

"But for them to access the rehabs or the mental health facilities … most of the time you need an exit and there needs to be like an address [to go to]."

More government support

Homelessness Minister Matthew Swinbourn said the two Passages hubs had been funded for the next four years by the state government.

"We currently fund more than 130 services to deliver critical homelessness supports across WA, with more than $25 million invested in accommodation and support services," he said in a statement.

He said other projects addressed underlying causes driving youth homelessness, such as mental health, education and training and domestic violence.

Catherine Robinson, a child and youth homelessness researcher at the University of Tasmania, said youth hubs deserved greater attention from governments.

"The current service system can only serve those children and young people that it is funded to serve at the moment," she said.

"That is not necessarily a reflection of need being experienced in the broader community.

'Somewhere to feel safe'

Kaya is now on a more stable footing and is working with the state's Youth Homelessness Advisory Committee.

She said young homeless people needed support services like Passages, and hoped the government would recognise their importance.

"I wouldn't know where I would be if I didn't have somewhere to go and have a shower or somewhere to feel safe," she said.

"If they [homeless youth] don't have that, then what else is there going to be?"