Mara told The Feed that she had a strained relationship with her parents since she was young, due to differing views on traditional gender roles. But one day, she had enough of the abuse.
Mara is one of many young people fleeing their homes because of domestic violence. About 72 per cent of young homeless Australians have experienced domestic or sexual violence, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Special Homelessness Services annual report.
Since the night she left home, Mara has been homeless—couchsurfing or living in temporary crisis shelters. She now has a court-ordered protective order against her mother.
Young homeless Australians are not being counted
“The hidden problem is that [data counts the] “There are so many people who have found a bed in a shelter. But what about the young people who are temporarily living on the streets because they have nowhere to go?”
Statistics show that many young people are confronted with domestic violence. Source: SBS
When Mission Australia recently surveyed almost 20,000 young people, it found that one in ten had been homeless in the past 12 months.
“It’s a tragedy, it’s a crisis.”
Many young people are not identified as homeless because they do not use support services, instead they rely on couch potatoes. Source: SBS / Caroline Huang
Mara is now 20 and lives in temporary housing with the help of several specialized homeless shelters, but her life took a very different turn.
She started hanging out with the wrong crowd and stealing weed, but soon realized she had entered the criminal world.
“It was really hard to go to school, or even do my assignments. I couldn’t get internet. I had to focus on keeping a roof over my head,” she said.
Surviving an abusive home situation
Barraclough said youth homelessness often sets off a chain reaction, with missing school leading to long-term problems with employment, social and mental health.
The 2021 census found that almost a quarter of all homeless people were between the ages of 12 and 24 (28,204 people). Source: SBS
“They have no income… they are isolated from school because they can’t go to school themselves, and they are expected to fend for themselves like adults would… it is a matter of survival for many of them.”
“One in two young people is rejected for emergency shelter when they need it. There are very limited resources available specifically for young people.”
Should we screen students for domestic violence, just like we do for cancer?
David MacKenzie is a senior lecturer at UNSW who has done extensive research into youth homelessness and believes early prevention is key.
Mission Australia recently surveyed almost 20,000 young people and found that almost one in ten had been homeless in the past 12 months. Source: MONKEY / Dave Hunt
Part of this is identifying abuse in the family before a child is forced to flee, for example through surveys among students.
“We screen for diseases, we screen for cervical cancer, we have screening processes for health conditions. Well, we use a screening process to try to identify young people who are at risk of becoming homeless.”
Australia’s ‘perennial problem’
He said most homeless youth sleep on benches instead of on the streets.
Among young children, the increase in homelessness is the greatest since the last census. Source: SBS
Youth homelessness is not confined to the big cities. Coffs Harbour’s Wesley Youth Accommodation Services programme manager Meena Johnson estimates that eight in 10 clients are escaping domestic or family violence.
If you or someone you know is experiencing or at risk of experiencing domestic, family or sexual violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au.