Homelessness week starts today and local organisation Shelter WA has highlighted the seriousness of the challenge in our state.
It is estimated that tonight over 9,000 people will experience homeless in Western Australia, and today 67 households will be turned away from support services who are unable to meet the demand.
In Western Australia there are currently 14,000 houeholds on the waiting list for social housing and the average wait time is 2.5 years.
To draw attention to the issue Shelter WA is holding a series of events over the week including a conversations, seminars and sector updates.
A recent survey by Mission Australia has highlighted that young people are one of the groups most likely to experience homelessness.
The the first time the organisation’s annual survey asked young people 15-19 if they’d stayed away from home n the past three months because they felt they could not safely return.
The results showed an average of one-in-six young people across the nation answered ‘yes’ in 2017, with the highest rates in Western Australia (one-in-five) and the lowest in Victoria (one-in-eight).
Mission Australia CEO James Toomey highlighted that family violence was one of the leading causing of homelessness among young people.
OIP Staff
