By MELISSA MEEHAN
COUCH surfing teenagers are the focus of a study that hopes to prevent young people becoming homeless.
Swinburne University of Technology, Anchor In and Outer Eastern LLEN, along with other partners have joined forces to tackle the growing issue of youth homelessness in the area.
Anchor youth and community manager Nich Rogers said that the research would shed light on the impact of education and what local agencies and schools could do together to better support students at risk of homelessness.
“We know that there are local kids in the system that are basically couch surfing from friends to grandparents and other family members, but still going to school,” Mr Rogers said.
“School is a safe place for them, and we want to be able to address the problem before they either drop out or finish school and become homeless,” Mr Rogers said.
He said the study would speak to schools in the Yarra Ranges from all areas, and would not discriminate between public schools, private schools or alternative education.
“There are two purposes of this study, one, to find out how many kids are facing this issue,” he said.
“And two, to build a bond with the schools so that if they come across an issue like this, they can call us to offer assistance,” he said.
Mr Rogers said statistics showed that over the past 12 months a total of 839 local young people, aged between 16 and 25, and their dependant children presented as homeless or at risk to Anchor’s Opening Doors emergency accommodation service and youth management services in Lilydale.
Sixty-five per cent of people who present to agencies leave school before completing Year 10.
