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The Youth Initiative (YI) aims to prevent homelessness among young people leaving Out of Home Care (OOHC) or Permanency Support by diverting them from the homelessness service system. Veritas House is delivering the program in Western NSW in partnership with youth specialist housing provider, My Foundations Youth Housing. Young people are provided with a combination of personal advice, education and employment mentoring, transitional accommodation and support to secure long-term accommodation.

Brandi* found affordable accommodation and support through YI, “I’m independent, I have an income and I feel secure. And I am engaged to be married! Stable housing and support have given me the ability to build my life up. In my case, home is definitely where the heart is. There was a time when I was couch surfing and going from home to home. Those days are behind me now. And I guess the most important message I have for kids my age is to never give up hope. There’s a lot of support out there and lots of people who want to help. The future belongs to me and I am grabbing hold of it.”

*Name changed and generic image used to protect privacy

Objectives of YI

  • Identify and target young people leaving OOHC in Western NSW, who are at risk of homelessness, before they enter crisis – enabling services to intervene early and divert them from entering the homelessness service system altogether, where possible.
  • Ensure young people in Western NSW who do not have established networks and case managed aftercare support are supported by a Personal Advisor. This support will continue for the duration of the initiative, and aims to support a young person leaving OOHC to:
    • implement their leaving care plan
    • establish a life-long habit of growing and maintaining personal support networks
    • navigate mainstream and specialist services as required
    • manage crisis and change effectively.
  • Provide support to young people in Western NSW to establish single occupant and shared accommodation via subsidised head-leased properties. This objective will enable young people to remain in locations where they have established support networks, following the end of or exit from YI.
  • Provide transitional support to young people in Western NSW to build their capacity to establish and maintain long-term accommodation. There will be an emphasis on building capacity to establish and maintain share accommodation. This transitional support will be provided for up to three years of the YI initiative.
  • Support young people via education and employment mentoring to build their financial capacity and growth in opportunity. This support is aimed at increasing the young person’s educational attainment and employment outcomes, so that at their exit from YI the young person can maintain their housing and independent living.
Read Ella's Story

How can young people join the program?

Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) Central Office Referrals

The criteria for entry to YI are that the young person is:

  • 16 years – 21 years old
  • leaving or preparing to leave statutory OOHC
  • likely to be homeless or at risk upon leaving care
  • leaving or preparing to leave OOHC and identifies as Aboriginal

DCJ will use ChildStory data to identify all DCJ and NGO OOHC case-managed young people who will leave Statutory Care in the locations that YI is available who are at risk of homelessness. Risk factors for young people becoming homelessness include:

  • leaving residential OOHC
  • leaving OOHC with placement instability
  • leaving a permanent OOHC placement
  • leaving OOHC after being in care 12 months or longer. Young people who are identified as eligible will be invited to participate in the YI program after confirmation of eligibility with their allocated OOHC caseworker i.e. that the young person is still in statutory OOHC and living in a YI location.

Community Referrals

Service providers may also take Community Referrals from medical professionals, educational institutions, and other service providers and government bodies. Community referrals allow service providers or caseworkers to refer clients directly into the YI program who are not eligible through the vulnerability screening process.

Eligibility of Community Referrals:

  • have a child protection history / history of OOHC
  • aged 16-21 Years
  • referred by medical professionals, educational institutions and other service providers such as specialist homelessness services
  • leaving residential care
  • leaving an institution including Youth Justice or Refuge

Please complete the Community Referral form and email it to YIcontact@veritashouse.org.au