'Nothing but tents and swags': why homeless kids are turned away

It comes as the NSW state government released a 10-year homelessness strategy, the first of its kind in the state.

Key reforms in the first stage of implementation include replacing hotel and motel stays with more appropriate homelessness accommodation, establishing a NSW Street Sleeping Registry, and reducing exits from government services into homelessness through new cross-agency governance.

Homelessness minister Rose Jackson said the plan was a "game-changing, long-term approach" which will shift the focus from crisis management to prevention and support.

YP Space MNC outreach manager Deb Tougher told ACM, the publisher of this masthead, the situation was at "crisis point".

The charity has two youth refuges in Port Macquarie and offers temporary accommodation in Kempsey. All are filled to capacity.

Both youth refuges help boys aged 12-24, while in the temporary accommodation at Kempsey, young mums fleeing domestic violence make up the majority of the intake.

READ MORE: 'Sleeping on trains, in tents and cars': youth homelessness at crisis level

Ms Tougher said most of the kids and young people were fleeing "unsafe, toxic and dysfunctional families".

"A smart kid is not going to run away from a happy, safe home," she said.

Ms Tougher said there was a subset of young people where one parent had partnered, and there were issues with the new partner.

"We are having to give these young people tents and swags because there is nothing to give them.

"It is awful, especially with this wild weather, a flimsy tent, and to say 'have a great weekend in the cyclonic weather'."

She said there was zero housing on the Mid North Coast in the private rental market that was affordable on social security benefits, which she says must be increased by the federal government.

Ms Tougher welcomed the move away from motels to more appropriate accommodation by the Minns government. But "what is that going to look like?"

"Some of these motels used for temporary accommodation are disgusting, expensive and not safe," she said.

Increasing wrap-around services and reducing exits from government services to homelessness was also important.

"I'm glad they have noticed that and are trying to address it," she said.

"Young people and older people who are persistently homeless have usually spent a large part of their lives in some form of institutional care," she said.

"They leave these institutions with no basic life skills, such as how to make an appointment, cooking skills, things we take for granted."

Ms Tougher said, particularly in holiday destinations like Port Macquarie, rough sleepers around town were moved on quickly.

"Council doesn't want the tourists to think there is a homelessness problem," she said.

"They need to come up with some alternative accommodation like a showground, whether it is an unused piece of crown land," she said.

Homelessness NSW CEO, Dom Rowe, said the sector had been calling for a whole-of-government response to homelessness, which had worsened during the cost-of-living crisis.

He said the state government's strategy "answers that call", saying his organisation was seeing more people living in their cars, couch surfing between friends' places and sleeping rough on the streets.

Deputy CEO of Domestic Violence NSW Carolyn Hodge said domestic and family violence was a significant driver of homelessness.

Ms Hodge said they would be advocating for a stronger focus on trauma-informed support and immediate crisis responses as the 10-year plan was implemented.

"It's our goal to ensure that women and children no longer need to choose between abuse and homelessness," she said.

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