Questions without notice and ministers statements
Education First Youth Foyers
Rikkie-Lee TYRRELL (Northern Victoria) (12:00): (374) Acknowledging the tireless work in this space by my Northern Victoria colleague the Honourable Ms Lovell, my question is for the Minister for Housing. The Education First Youth Foyer program provides accommodation to young people between the ages of 16 and 24 at risk of homelessness while partnering with local education institutions such as TAFE to develop the education and skills of its residents. I am sure the minister would concur that the three existing youth foyers, in Broadmeadows, Glen Waverley and Shepparton, have changed the lives of many vulnerable young Victorians. I applaud the minister’s funding commitment to building two more foyers, in Wodonga and Wangaratta. But there is some uncertainty in the sector around the support funding for both facilities. Can the minister clarify when support funding for the planned youth foyers in Wodonga and Wangaratta will be announced?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:01): Thanks, Mrs Tyrrell, for that question. I do want to acknowledge the work that has gone into making sure that youth homelessness and rough sleeping are tackled in a range of ways across the state. We know that young people are amongst the most significant cohort in percentage terms of homelessness and of rough sleeping. We know that more than 100,000 people have sought to access homelessness services and that every year this number has been informed by a range of pressures being experienced, including cost of living and the challenges associated with complexity in a range of areas, including mental health, alcohol and drug addiction and people who are victims and survivors of family violence, amongst other things.
When we talk about the impact of homelessness and of rough sleeping, we know that a range of supports are necessary given those complexities. We have funded homelessness projects and programs and services by about $300,000 a year across Victoria, including around $164,000 for services, and youth foyers are a big part of this. Those two facilities which you have referred to were in fact announced by my colleague the Leader of the Government. Once they have been delivered, the operational process of making sure that they are able to do the work that they do will continue.
I do, however, also want to take a moment to thank everybody who is part of the delivery of those services and who worked so hard across a range of partnerships to make sure that people, firstly, know about the youth foyers and about other supports and, secondly, have opportunities to access those services and supports. In particular for rural and regional settings, after natural disaster and emergency it has been services just like this that have been instrumental in the connection that people have been able to either create or sustain in times of greatest need.
Mrs Tyrrell, I would be very happy to provide you with updates around the progress of these particular builds and the crystallising of this investment into services which will benefit the community as a whole. As I said at the outset, homelessness and rough sleeping are complex areas of need, and these are areas which require a range of solutions as we work toward addressing not just the challenges being faced in the immediate and in the short term but what the longer term causes are of these factors that result in circumstances that need and require and demand our attention.
Rikkie-Lee TYRRELL (Northern Victoria) (12:04): I thank the minister for her answer. Infrastructure Victoria’s strategy 2021–2025 document recommended the establishment of six additional youth foyers in regional Victoria, included Wodonga and Wangaratta as well as Bendigo, Geelong, Mildura and Morwell. Will the minister give an undertaking to personally meet with me to discuss the future expansion of the wonderful youth foyer program in regional Victoria?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:04): Thanks, Mrs Tyrrell, for that supplementary question. As I think I outlined in the answer to the substantive question, I would be really pleased to continue to engage with you. We have spoken about this before. It has been an ongoing conversation with people across rural and regional Victoria. One of the things that I have tried really hard to do ever since taking on the responsibility of this portfolio is make my way around rural and regional Victoria. I am doing that again, all things being equal and the house rising at a reasonable hour tomorrow, on Friday. This work will go on. As you have said, there are a range of youth foyer commitments that are being delivered. As we include the work on construction being scheduled to commence later, towards the end of this year and the start of next year, at the two locations that we have talked about, I would be really pleased to continue to talk with you, as I am also talking to the communities, to community housing providers and to those not-for-profit, mission-based organisations that are doing such an important power of work on the ground.