AUSTRALIA
Couch surfing is one of the most under-recognised forms of youth homelessness with many young people unaware they are even homeless.
According to figures from Marist 180 in Blacktown, more than 230
people under 25 asked for help because they were homeless or at risk of
homelessness in 2016.
About 120 of those were from Mt Druitt and St
Marys.
“One in five (of those) young people ... were couch surfing on the day they reached out,” Marist 180 executive manager Brittany Jack said. “Most young people who are homeless couch surf at some point, whether that’s full time or just a few nights a week to get away from a volatile situation. However, many ... don’t even realise they are classified as homeless.
Given that we aren’t the only service they might go to, and that some don’t ask for help, and you could probably triple that number. “Most are school age – 35 per cent of the young people we supported were 16 or 17, another 30 per cent were 18 or 19. Some are as young as 14 or 15.”
Penrith-based Platform Youth Services had more than 200 requests for help from people in St Clair and St Marys in the year to June 30. Both services put family violence and mental health issues as the top two reasons young people leave home.
“About two-thirds (of the people who contact us) have left home because of domestic violence,” Ms Jack said. “Young people who are struggling to deal with these conflicts end up voting with their feet and looking to stay with friends.”
Ms Jack said couch surfing was not often recognised as a form of homelessness.
“I suppose the community perception of a homeless person is someone sleeping under a bridge in a card board box but it’s more complicated than that.”
Team leader at Platform YS Jenny Glavich said couch surfing presented new problems for young people who are already struggling.
“It creates instability which makes moving forward in life difficult,” Ms Glavich said. “It is hard to start work or study when you don’t know where you will sleep tonight or when you will be able to wash your clothes for work or school. Long term couch surfing often impacts on their own mental health.”
Ms Glavich said more housing stock, flexible criteria for accommodation and better understanding would ease the issue.
“Many (youths) do not believe they are homeless because when they are couch surfing as they have a roof over their head,” she said. “(They) think that homelessness is about sleeping rough, when more often than not, that is not the case. Homelessness is any living arrangement that is not stable, safe or secure.”
By Danielle Jarvis
6 October 2017
