Responding to youth homelessness on the Sunshine Coast
Having a safe place to live can provide the stability a young person needs to look after their health, reconnect with education and work towards employment.
However, homelessness remains a significant issue on the Sunshine Coast.
Homelessness does not always mean sleeping on the street. It can also include staying in temporary or crisis accommodation, sleeping in a vehicle, living in overcrowded housing or staying with other people without secure tenure.
For young people, housing instability can interrupt education, employment, healthcare and important social connections.
Emerge Youth supports young people who may have experienced homelessness, family violence, contact with the justice system or disconnection from education, training and employment.
On the Sunshine Coast, Emerge Youth is providing a safe and inclusive home environment where young people can access accommodation, food, healthcare support, mentoring, training and pathways towards employment.
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Creating a safe place to rebuild stability
Emerge Youth provides individualised support based on what each young person needs.
For someone experiencing immediate homelessness, that can begin with safe accommodation, food and access to healthcare. From there, support can extend to mentoring, practical skills, education, training and employment pathways.
This approach recognises that housing, health, education and employment barriers can be interconnected.
A young person may find it difficult to pursue training or maintain a job without secure accommodation. In the same way, stable housing alone may not address every barrier if someone also needs healthcare, mentoring, practical skills or help reconnecting with education.
ETC provided $50,000 through the ETC Community Support Fund to support Emerge Youth's housing program on the Sunshine Coast.
The contribution has helped Emerge Youth provide supervision and support three days a week over 12 months for young people aged 25 and under who are experiencing immediate homelessness.
Emerge Youth Founder and CEO Jen Shaw said ETC's contribution had helped create a safe and supportive environment for young people.
"Emerge works with some of the most vulnerable young people across the country, and ETC has allowed us to create that beautiful safe home environment for the young people that we work with, like Jayden," Jen Shaw said.
A safe home environment can help create space for a young person to address immediate needs and begin thinking about what comes next.
From housing instability to employment and future goals
Safe accommodation can be an important starting point, but the longer-term goal is to help young people build stability and make decisions about their future.
Emerge Youth Worker Jayden Summerfield has spoken publicly about the support Emerge Youth provided during his own journey.
"I was born into domestic violence and spent most of my childhood and almost all my teenage years in juvenile detention. They've helped me with accommodation, I've gotten myself a job and I've got big goals that I'm working towards," Jayden Summerfield said.
Jayden Summerfield's story shows why support needs to look beyond one immediate barrier.
Access to accommodation can create greater stability. Mentoring and practical assistance can help someone navigate challenges. Training and employment can then provide opportunities to build skills, confidence and independence.
The focus is not on defining a young person by past experiences. It is on recognising strengths, supporting progress and creating room for future goals.
Emerge Youth describes its approach as providing individualised support for as long as a young person needs it. Its programs teach life and work skills, support positive relationships and provide pathways to accommodation, training and employment
Connecting young people with coordinated support
Young people experiencing homelessness may need support across several areas at the same time.
ETC and Emerge Youth work together to connect young people with the assistance that best responds to their circumstances.
ETC Youth Engagement Advisor, Transition to Work, Laila Jones said the relationship had created referrals in both directions.
"They've helped us with young people who have needed further assistance and, in turn, they have referred young people to us who need help with education and employment," Laila Jones said.
This coordinated approach can address immediate needs such as accommodation, food and healthcare while helping young people pursue longer-term education and employment goals.
ETC delivers the Workforce Australia - Transition to Work program on the Sunshine Coast, supporting young people aged 15 to 24 to build skills, complete qualifications and move towards employment.
When a young person requires support beyond education and employment assistance, a relationship with a community organisation such as Emerge Youth can provide another pathway to help.
In turn, young people supported by Emerge Youth can be connected with ETC when they are ready to focus on education, training or employment.
Building practical skills and pathways towards independence
Emerge Youth's Sunshine Coast housing program combines accommodation and wraparound support with practical training.
Young people can develop skills through areas such as first aid and hospitality while receiving support to reconnect with education or work towards employment.
Practical training can provide more than a qualification.
It can help a young person develop routine, workplace awareness and evidence of their skills. It can also provide a starting point for further education, training or employment.
Emerge Youth's broader programs focus on skills for life and work, positive relationships and responses tailored to each young person rather than assuming everyone needs the same support.
This individualised approach recognises that progress may look different for every young person.
For one person, the next step may be accessing healthcare or establishing a daily routine. For someone else, it may be beginning training, reconnecting with education or applying for work.
What matters is having a safe foundation and the right support to begin taking those steps.
Supporting stronger communities through the ETC Community Support Fund
ETC is a registered charity committed to giving back to the communities in which it operates.
Through the ETC Community Support Fund, ETC supports organisations responding to community needs relating to employment, skills development and major barriers to participation.
Since its inception in 2012, the ETC Community Support Fund has provided over $3.4 million to community organisations, including $2.4 million in the last five years alone.
ETC's $50,000 contribution has helped Emerge Youth provide a safe and supportive home environment for young people experiencing immediate homelessness on the Sunshine Coast.
By combining accommodation with healthcare access, mentoring, skills development and employment pathways, Emerge Youth is helping young people build safer foundations and work towards greater stability and independence.
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