REPORT OF THE ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT UNEMPLOYMENT …

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"OUT OF WORK, OUT OF HOME" REPORT OF THE ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT UNEMPLOYMENT AND YOUTH HOMELESSNESS James Boyce 33 ' , g,<W , 13 ^ Brotherhood of St Laurence August 1991 „&3L!-'brar J301282

Transcript of REPORT OF THE ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT UNEMPLOYMENT …

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"OUT OF WORK, OUT OF HOME"

REPORT OF THE ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT

UNEMPLOYMENT AND YOUTH HOMELESSNESS

James Boyce

3 3 ' ,g,<W, 13^

Brotherhood of St Laurence August 1991

„&3L!-'brar

J301282

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Acknowledgments

Lindsey Nelson and Linda Kolevas (EAC) and Jenny Trethewey and Veronica Sheen (SPRC) from the BSL were actively involved in this research project. This Final Report owes much to their contribution.

Mary Parfrey (YAC), John Forster (BSL Carrum Downs), Dr Rodney Fopp (University of South Australia), Robyn Hartley (AIFS), Hal Bisset (Vic Council of Churches), David Roberts (Parkerville Children Home, Western Australia), Dianne Spartells (Mission to Streets and Lanes), Barry Rawlings and David Eldridge (Crossroads), Frank Maas, Ken McNamara and Gretta Boffa provided generously of their time in offering comments and ideas.

The workers from the agencies interviewed provided useful information, often much beyond their own projects.

Judy Collings and Debbie Toy typed the Report.

And of course it was the homeless young people themselves who made this truly an action research project by sharing so willingly and openly their own experiences, views and ideas for change.

The project was funded through a grant from the Promise the Children Fund.

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CONTENTS

1. Introduction 12. Background to the project 23. Description of project 6.4. Dimensions of unemployment 85. Unemployment among homeless youth 136. Dimensions of youth homelessness 177. Links between unemployment and homelessness 198. Towards effective program models 289. Case studies 4510. Summary 54Recommendations 58Bibliography 64

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1. INTRODUCTION

The Report of the National Inquiry into Homeless Children by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) found that, "homelessness and unemployment are inextricably linked for most young people The Inquiry called therefore "foran integrated approach to the provision of accommodation and job training" (HREOC 1989, p.291).

This paper is the report of an action research project operating at the Employment Action Centre (EAC) of the Brotherhood of St Laurence between October 1990 and May 1991, designed to explore the nature and implications of this link between employment and homelessness for young people.

High levels of youth homelesspess appeared with the emergence of sustained high youth unemployment rates in the mid 1970s.The link between youth homelessness and unemployment has always been in the words of one young person interviewed for this project "pretty bloody obvious", yet the policy and program response to homelessness seems to have virtually ignored it.The response to youth homelessness has largely been confined to the development of (mainly) supported accommodation, while the plethora of new youth labour market programs which have come and gone since the mid 1970s, have grown up in virtual isolation from the equally new youth housing field. There have thus been no attempts to develop a labour market response to the issues of homeless youth.

The "obvious" link is perhaps therefore not so obvious after all. The purpose of this study then is to some extent to re­argue the obvious. However it goes further than that, seeking to extend and develop the nature of this link between unemployment and homelessness. It does so in the context of a labour market program, the Employment Action Centre, struggling to come to terms with what it may mean to meet the employment and training needs of homeless young people. It makes its points not with hypothetical examples, but the real life

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situations and experiences of homeless young men and women.This is done within the context of a fairly comprehensive literature review.

Such independence does not mean independence from the support of other people. Indeed in this sense young homeless people are already perhaps too "independent". Rather it means providing them with a type of support which is linked to opportunities which enable them to achieve their own valued and meaningful place in society. The alternative may be to exclude large and increasing numbers of our young people from mainstream society either through extended periods of dependency and artificial support in the. welfare system, or as members of entrenched street sub-cultures like those now so characteristic of many large American cities.

Based on a fairly comprehensive literature review, and the experience of the action research project, this paper sets out the dimensions of unemployment and homelessness and then goes on to explore the links between them. It then looks at how some of these links can be addressed at a program level. Some of these issues are then highlighted by presenting a number of case studies. Finally a number of recommendations are made to provide a basis for addressing unemployment and youth homelessness at both a policy and program level.

2. BACKGROUND TO THE PROJECT

2.1 The Employment Action CentreThe Employment Action Centre of the Brotherhood of St Laurence seeks to "offer training, placement, support and advocacy" to ensure that "each individual has a right to a satisfying place in the work force" (Employment Action Centre Mission Statement).

The Active Placement Unit of the Employment Action Centre was opened in May 1990 to work with disadvantaged young people on an individual basis and seek to place them in work or training

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by providing them with the necessary ongoing support. There is a commitment to working with the range of needs of these young people which have an impact on their opportunity to participate in employment or training.

With about a third of the 60 clients seen by the Active Placement Unit in the first three months being homeless, it quickly became evident to staff that one of their clients' primary needs was secure and adequate housing. As part of their commitment to achieving employment and training outcomes for these young people, Active Placement Unit staff found that they were spending an increasing proportion of their time on housing related issues.

At the same time the Social Policy and Research Centre of the Brotherhood was becoming increasingly concerned at the inadequate response to the needs of homeless youth identified by the HREOC Report. This Report conservatively estimated there to be at least 20-25,000 homeless young people in Australia.

- The Report comprehensively documented the experiences of homeless youth and critically reviewed the.policies and programs impacting on them. The Report concluded that "Effective action is urgently needed to address this problem. Such action cannot be half hearted or poorly planned" (HREOC 1989, p.21).

The Social Policy and Research Centre and the Employment Action Centre therefore jointly implemented this action research project. This was done with no extra resources other than the employment of the action researcher. At this stage there were no job generation initiatives operating from the Employment Action Centre in Fitzroy (although another branch of the Centre in Ballarat is doing this work). Apart from a Job Club and Traineeship Access Course in the clerical field, there were also no training programs to which Employment Action Centre clients could have access internally.

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Similarly at that stage the Employment Action Centre had no access to Brotherhood of St Laurence housing resources to accommodate homeless young people. As with employment and training, the housing options available to Active Placement Unit clients were therefore mainly those which are available externally.

The project was therefore very much a "test" of what can be achieved within the constraints of the resources available in the external environment. It was these employment and training programs, the wider labour market, youth housing and other forms of public and private housing which compromised the accessible resources.

2.2 Previous BSL work on youth homelessnessThe Brotherhood was at the forefront in responding to the emerging issue of youth homelessness, with the development of the Northcote Accommodation Project (NAP) in 1980. The project developed out of a proposal which envisaged "a program which will.meet all the needs of this-group of young people at the same time ...", because of the concern about the "piecemeal and fragmentary approach taken to date" (Developmental Program for Homeless Youth, BSL 1981).

Another report recommended a program "to assist young low- income people to develop their independent living and coping skills and their general support systems". Possibilities that this report recommended should be looked at included "job co­ops, skills training, and backup support for independent communal living" (Alderson 1980).

Yet another discussion paper argued that this should be developed "in the context of a broader range of housing options, including private board, independent bedsitters and externally supported accommodation" (Hudson 1980).

It is perhaps partly because these recommendations to develop an integrated youth housing program were never implemented,

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that the issues have changed in some respects so little. NAP became an independent community-run youth housing project which the Brotherhood of St Laurence evaluated in 1984. The evaluation (McDermott 1984) questioned whether a crucial factor in the difficulties experienced by the project was the low level of participation of the residents in employment, education or training. Greater efforts and resources were seen to be needed to influence the total environment and impacting on the young people "particularly the housing market, the job market, the education system, and the income support system" (McDermott 1984, p.9), if the developmental aims of this project were to be met. While the opportunity to implement an integrated Brotherhood of St Laurence project on youth homelessness was lost, research and social policy analysis work continued, particularly in the youth labour market and income areas. For example Trethewey & Burston (1988) looked at the impact on young people and their families on the reductions in social security benefits for 16 and 17 year olds. The link between youth unemployment, inadequate benefits and family conflict leading to an increase in family breakdowns was -- -highlighted in this report. McClelland & Sheen (BSL 1988) identify the essential component needed if training programs are to be accessible and relevant to the disadvantaged unemployed. Sheen & Burston have recently evaluated two labour market programs run in the Brotherhood of St Laurence for disadvantaged young people (Sheen & Burston, awaiting publication). Crossley (1990) has looked at the broader issues of the future of work in a changing society. Taylor (1990) has documented the relationship between children and young people in state care and subsequent homelessness.

The Brotherhood in conjunction with the Councils of Social Service throughout Australia ran a major social action campaign on child poverty between 1988 and 1990. One focus of which was the dire situations of children unable to live at home.

This recent work has in turn built on a long tradition of research and advocacy with the Brotherhood on employment and

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housing issues, which began with the concerns of the Brotherhood's founder, Fr Tucker, to fight both unemployment and poor housing conditions among the poor of inner urban Melbourne during the 1930s.

3. DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT

3.1 Aims of ProjectThe aims of the projects were:

To explore the relationship between employment and training and youth homelessness.

To assist the Employment Action Centre develop its services for homeless young people seeking its employment and training assistance.

To build a knowledge base of the policy implications of developing an integrated housing and employment program for homeless young people.

. To promote and develop the notion that stable housing isan important element of successful employment and training- outcomes for disadvantaged young people.

3.2 ObjectivesThe objectives of the project were:

. To identify key themes in recent research reports in the youth housing and employment areas and analyse current state and federal government policies and programs in this context.

To look at existing housing and labour market services for disadvantaged young people and to investigate the relationship of these services to the employment and training needs of homeless young people.

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. To investigate the links between housing stability andemployment and training opportunities for a small group of homeless young people attending the Employment Action Centre.

. To identify key elements and strategies for working on the housing problem of young people in conjunction with employment and training intervention.

To work with Employment Action Centre staff to develop the Employment Action Centre priorities and strategies for dealing with housing issues.

3.3 MethodologyThe methodology of the project comprised:

1. Literature and policy review. This involved:

a review of Australian and (to a limited extent) overseas literature on youth housing and employment - issues;

. summary of current issues and trends;

analysis of government programs and policies with respect to youth homelessness, employment and training.

2. Survey of integrated housing and employment and training programs in Victoria through interviews with service providers in selected youth welfare and housing agencies.

3. Working with a group of homeless young people using the Employment Action Centre and:

documenting the previous experience of the participants with respect to housing and employment and training;

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. documenting the experience of the participants within the program through observation and interview;

. documenting the methods of working with young people on employment, training and housing issues;

documenting the experience of the project officer in placing young people in medium/long-term accommodation, comparing access issues in private rental, public housing and youth housing sectors.

4. Working with the Employment Action Centre staff to develop an integrated program and documenting the process involved and the changes to the program.

4. DIMENSIONS OF UNEMPLOYMENT

4.1 Changes in the youth labour marketThe teenage labour market has declined significantly since the mid 1960s. Both the number of jobs and the.type of jobs available to this age group has changed dramatically. From 1966 to 1986 the percentage of 15-19 year olds in full-time employment fell from 59.2 per cent to 31.1 per cent and is continuing to fall. The proportion of working teenagers in traditional entry level jobs, such as apprenticeships, banks and the public service has fallen while those in casual and part-time work have increased (Sweet 1987).

The effects of each recession have been particularly severe on the youth labour market. The current recession has been the most savage yet. Over 110,000 full-time jobs for teenagers disappeared in the 12 months to April 1991 which was over half the total number of jobs lost in the work force. Unemployment among 15-19 year olds has reached 30 per cent despite increases in school retention rates.

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However, while the effects of the recession are particularly dramatic, the decline in the youth labour market seem to be part of a long-term pattern which relate to structural change in the Australian economy. Thus, despite the strong overall employment growth between 1983 and 1989 full-time employment among teenagers actually fell in absolute terms (Wilson 1989). Many young people have responded by staying on at school, but this doesn't change the fact that for disadvantaged early school leavers, the pool of real jobs available is declining.

It is these jobs which the staff of the Employment Action Centre are seeking to access for their clients. Since the recession this has proved an almost impossible task with very few disadvantaged young people placed in work.

If the pattern which has followed previous recessions is repeated, renewed labour market growth is likely to have limited impact on the job opportunities for this client group. The structural changes in the labour market seem to mean that the teenage jobs lost in the "bad times" are not recovered in the "good".

If this is true again the impact on youth homelessness is likely to be considerable. As will be seen, prior to this recession, most homeless young people have had some contact with the (secondary) labour market and these periods have punctuated time on the streets. This contact is likely to disappear, and the numbers of chronic streets kids with no attachments to the wider society therefore likely to increase.

4.2 Importance of employment to young people

4.2.1 Meaning of work.At the most fundamental level, a job provides an income sufficient to access resources, including housing. However, a job means much more than an independent income. There has been considerable research which shows the continuing importance of employment in the formation of identity, concept of self and

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self-esteem. A job remains crucial to a real place and identity in this society. Thus, as Blakers has argued, the effects of unemployment are

not simply a problem of guaranteeing subsistence through welfare benefits. It is basically a problem of guaranteeing place and identity in a changing society (Blakers 1990, p.15).

4.2.2 Role of work in young people's transition to adulthood Finding a job has been an important part of "growing up". As White argues:

particular expectations, attitudes and forms of behaviour... have... been premised upon established links between school and work, work and housing, income and independence... The sharp break in these established traditions because of the economic crisis has severely affected... young... men and women. (White 1990, p.14)

The young people continue to attempt to make the transition from dependency to new forms of interdependency, from living at home to living in their own households, from financial dependency to independence, from school to paid work, and from relationships of dependency to interdependency.

Young people continue to attempt to make these transitions, even though the established routes to do so, particularly paid work, are no longer available to many of them/ This is because society itself is in transition. Thus, as Blakers argues:

...there are now two transitions to be managed simultaneously - one of young people into adult society, the second of the society itself from what has been to what will be (Blakers 1990, p.258).

It is not inevitable that paid employment must be a part of young people's transition to adulthood. Crossley (1990) has recently looked at the need for society to change and broaden its notion of work, given the unlikeliness of full-time paid employment ever again being available to all those who currently want it and need it.

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However, until this social change occurs, employment remains a crucial step in young people making a successful transition to adulthood as in the current social context, exclusion from the labour market still means an exclusion from much more than an adequate income.

4.2.3 Young people's aspirationsThere has been a considerable amount of research seeking young people's own perspectives, particularly regarding work and life goals. This research consistently shows that high levels of youth unemployment have not impacted on young people's desire to work.

Young people want to work. Blakers, after reviewing the research, concludes:

All the available evidence points to a strong adherence to the work ethic among young people; a deep rooted desire for a job and the benefits it brings... (Blakers 1990, p.15).

Sheen's summary of the research adds that not only are young people "keen to work", but they are ...actively seeking work and have modest expectations about the type of work which they can obtain... (Sheen 1988, p.7).

Available research on the aspirations of homeless young people show they are no different in this regard. Homeless young people do not seem to represent a subculture with their own distinctive views around work. For example, the West Australian study The Employment, Educating and Training Needs of Young People in Supported Accommodation in Perth (De Vries 1990) found that:

92 per cent mentioned work or study as central to their life plan in the next five years;

asked to rate things they regarded as more important than work, 47 per cent said relationships, 12 per cent health, and 3 per cent accommodation. Twenty-six per cent said

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nothing was more important (48 per cent were then living in crisis accommodation);

the jobs homeless young people wanted were traditional entry level jobs in the primary labour market.

The Salvation Army's Study Forced Exit also found from its survey of 100 homeless young people that their employment aspirations were conventional (Hirst 1989, p.48).

Perhaps the strongest evidence that homeless young people's exclusion from the labour market is not their choice can be seen is not in what.they say but in what they do. As will be seen in the next section, homeless young people undertake considerable efforts to get work.

It seems that the gap between what jobs are possible in reality and what young homeless people want to obtain, which seems of such concern to workers, arises not because these young people's aspirations are unusual, but because the jobs in the - primary labour market which they have been brought up to aspire to, are no longer available.

Given the central role which employment currently plays in our society in enabling a transition to independence, as described earlier, these findings are hardly surprising.

Young people want to be independent, and they know and believe that employment, or more accurately secure, reasonably paid employment in the primary labour market, holds the key to this. Again this is an aspiration usually seen as a normal and appropriate one in our society.

However, there is also evidence that if a particular social group is excluded from mainstream society over a long period of time, alternative value systems will eventually emerge.Homeless young people currently want to participate in our society through work. If, however, the opportunities to do so

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are denied them over a long period of time, it will not be surprising if these aspirations change and entrenched alternative subcultures develop, as has occurred already in some American cities.

5. UNEMPLOYMENT AMONG HOMELESS YOUTH

Most homeless young people are unemployed at any one point in time. This has been confirmed by all surveys of homeless young people. For example Forced Exit, a Salvation Army survey of 200 homeless young people in Melbourne found 80 per cent to be unemployed (Hirst 1989, p.47). O'Connor's survey of 100 homeless young people found 67 per cent to be unemployed (O'Connor 1988, p.3). The Youth Accommodation Coalition of Western Australia's recent survey of 50 young people in supported accommodation in Perth found 53 per cent to be unemployed (De Vries 1990, p.2). This compared favourably with the 63 per cent unemployment rate among residents of the Victorian Youth Housing Program found in the YHP Review (1989, p.37).- The 1991 survey of homeless young people using the'Info- Deli in Melbourne found .... per cent to be unemployed (.................. ) .

However the exclusion of homeless young people from the labour market is more complex than this. For a start it leaves unanswered the question of the extent to which young people's use of emergency and supported accommodation, which is where the sample groups are largely drawn from, corresponds to their periods of unemployment. (This issue will be looked at again later.)

Secondly there is considerable evidence that homeless young people are quite successful in obtaining employment. The Forced Exit sample had had an average number of eight jobs each. The Western Australian sample had had an average of about 4.5 jobs each. It is important to note however that both samples were taken during periods of rapid employment growth in the economy.

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Homeless young people worked with during this project had had an average of three jobs.

This then raises the issue of young homeless people's capacity to retain a job.

A widespread assumption would seem to be that homeless young people are not "work ready" and need a range of transitional steps, including preparatory courses and the development of independent living skills, before they can maintain employment. While this is true for many homeless young people, the available evidence suggests that the cause of their high rate of job turnover doesn't lie primarily in their own work readiness or otherwise, but in the nature of the jobs which they obtain and the impact of their living situation.

Most disadvantaged young people are only able to access jobs in the secondary labour market, characterised by low wages, poor conditions and often short-term or casual employment. Their unemployment could be more accurately described as "recurrent" than "long-term" (McClelland & Sheen 1988,.p.26), at least in times of economic growth. It is jobs in the primary labour market which offer better conditions, greater security and some career prospects; which disadvantaged and homeless young people are not accessing.

This is likely to mean that their living situation is likely to remain unstable and thus further impact on their ability to retain these marginal jobs. Over a period of time the lifestyle and employment situation of a homeless young person can interact, creating a cycle of transience which can make it difficult for them to hold down jobs; which in turn can further contribute to instability in their living situation.

Given employment in the primary labour market and stable living situations, there is some evidence to show that many homeless young people would be able to retain employment. For example, despite the high rate of job turnover among the Forced Exit

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sample, the average amount of time which they had spent in their longest job was nine months (Hirst 1989, p.47).Similarly, both homeless young people who obtained and retained jobs during this project had obtained work in the primary labour market and had stable accommodation. The four others who found work, but later lost their jobs, had all been employed in the secondary labour market.

This issue needs further research. However there is no doubt that homeless young people have been largely excluded from the primary labour market and that this is of central importance in their high rates of job turnover. This difficulty in accessing the primary labour market is linked to homeless young people's poor participation in training programs.

The HREOC Report found that homeless young people were largely excluded from labour market programs, even those such as SkillShare for which they' form part of the target group, and that on the rare occasions when they do access them their completion rates are very poor (HREOC 1989, Chapter 23).

This limited contact with the secondary labour market is likely to have disappeared with the current recession. Despite their limitations these jobs seem to have provided short breaks in young people's experience of homelessness, and the result of their disappearance is likely to be an increase in the number of chronically homeless.

In the West Australian sample cited earlier, over half of those who undertook courses didn't complete them, and of the few who did, most didn't see any benefit (De Vries 1990, pp.13, 38). There is evidence that this is the result of a considerable gulf between the needs of homeless young people and the structure of training programs, which will be explored later. Consistent with this, none of the 18 young people worked with during this project successfully completed a training program despite considerable support to do so.

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As Kirby remarked after reviewing developments in the period since the Committee of Inquiry into Labour Market Programs, which he chaired:

The greatest disappointment is that for all that has been said and done since the Report was released, there are no substantial new routes to mainstream training and employment.The barriers which reserve the main highway for those fortunate enough to have obtained the ticket at the usual entrance, are as high and as strong as they were before ... (YACVic 1987, p.5).

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6. DIMENSIONS OF YOUTH HOMELESSNESS

6.1 What is youth homelessness?The HREOC Report defined homelessness as a lifestyle which includes insecurity and transiency of shelter. It is not confined to a total lack of shelter (HREOC 1989, p.7). Homeless young people usually lack far more than stable accommodation. They are homeless because they are largely excluded from mainstream society to varying extents.

6.1.1 Homelessness as exclusionHomeless young people can be excluded from an adequate share of social resources (such as housing and income support), opportunities for participation and involvement in society (particularly through education, employment and training), and supportive relationships (through families, other adults and ties with local communities). Conversely their attachments to social and community life are weak.

These different areas of exclusion are interrelated. Thus early school leaving can be associated with unemployment which in turn can increase family tensions and lead to young people leaving home prematurely. This in turn can lead to exclusion from adequate shelter and an associated lifestyle which places further strains on remaining relationships and so on.

The circumstances and patterns of exclusion of individual homeless young people vary. However, some continuum can be seen with chronically homeless street kids, with virtually no attachments at one end of the spectrum, and young people who have significant attachments and are at no risk of homelessness at the other. In between, however, are a large group of young people who can be identified as being at varying risks of homelessness. Within the homeless population itself there are also varying degrees of attachment, with not all homeless young- people experiencing the complete exclusion of the chronically homeless. However, as the level of exclusion increases, the burden on the remaining attachments can increase to the point

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where they too breakdown. For example at risk young people can within a matter of weeks experience homelessness and then chronic homelessness as different attachments are disrupted or severed. Thus difficulties at home can cause a young people to leave their local area requiring them to leave school and other supportive relationships and so on.

6.1.2 Homelessness as a failed transitionThe reasons that young people are so vulnerable to becoming homeless is that they are attempting to make a number of transitions associated with becoming adult. These include the transition from school to work, family to independent households, dependent relationships, to new forms of interdependence and so on (Blakers 1990).

In undertaking these transitions young people need to move not so much from dependence to independence as is often described, but from dependence to interdependence. This is true not only of young people's relationships with their family and other people, but also with the community more generally. Young people need both the opportunities to receive support and to contribute to others and to the community.

Homeless young people in this sense represent a failed transition to adulthood with few opportunities to receive support or contribute to their community.

6.2 Causes of youth homelessnessThe reasons that large numbers of young people are experiencing increasing exclusion from society and failing to make successful transitions to adulthood lie in a number of interrelated changes in Australian society over the past 25 years. These changes have weakened the place of many young people in society and disrupted the traditional routes whereby young people become adult.

These changes have occurred in the labour market (as outlined), housing market, income support, family formation and

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relationships, education system, local communities and neighbourhoods and in social values. They have corresponded with increasing levels of exclusion for many disadvantaged young people from jobs, secure housing, reasonable income, supportive family ties, schools, neighbourhood links and a sense of personal identity (Boyce, Carter & Elkington 1991).

These changes in Australian society are interlinked and can only be understood and addressed in relation to each other. The major changes of the labour market, housing and income support areas, as well as increasing pressures on families will be outlined in the next section.

7. LINKS BETWEEN UNEMPLOYMENT AND HOMELESSNESS

7.1 Reasons for young people leaving homeThe HREOC Report has linked youth homelessness with increasing pressures on families associated with poverty, unemployment, social isolation, rising housing costs and lack of community supports. These pressures on families can increase family conflicts, as well as the neglect and abuse of children (HREOC 1989, ch.8). Families with unemployed teenage children are under particular strain. This is because young people's dependency on their parents is being extended at an age when, particularly in working class communities, young people have traditionally been assuming greater levels of independence and making a contribution to family income. There is considerable evidence that there values have not significantly changed.Other social changes are also encouraging young people to assert their independence earlier. Government policies which have increasingly placed the financial responsibility of unemployed teenagers back on to their families have exacerbated the problem (Fopp 1987).

Not surprisingly therefore Young (1990) finds that unemployment among young people

... appears... to be associated with an increase in the proportion leaving home for independence or through

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conflict, rather than increase in the proportion leaving home to seek work... (Young 1990, p.53).

When young people experience unemployment then, the family pressures which this causes seem to hasten young people's move to achieve independence, even though the traditional means to achieve this - employment - is unavailable to them.

While it is important to keep the reason for young people leaving home prematurely at the forefront of policies and programs responding to youth homelessness, it is equally important, however, to remember that young people have always left home for an equally diverse range of reasons. As Carter notes, "Just as young people have always left home to look for full-time jobs so they have always left home to escape family conflict" (Trethewey & Burston 1988, p.iii). Overall as Young (1990) establishes the ages at which young people are leaving home are not significantly different from 20 years ago, and indeed more recently, leaving home may be coming slightly later (Kilmartin 1987). As Carter argues it is "probably mythical" to assume that families' responsibility for their young, "has ever extended beyond school leaving age" (Trethewey & Burston 1988, p.ivj.

Yet at the median age of first leaving home, for whatever reason (18-19 for males and 17-18 for females). (Young 1990), a young woman or man is at a much higher risk of experiencing homelessness than 20 years ago. The reasons for this are the high levels of youth unemployment combined with big holes in the social security safety net and an increasingly inaccessible housing market.

7.2 Reasons for young people leaving home and becoming homeless

If a young person leaves home at 17 or 18, structural changes in the youth labour market mean that it will be very difficult for them to obtain secure or reasonable employment. If they are unemployed the maximum benefit available to them will be a maximum of $62.05 per week for 17-year-olds (means tested on

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parental income), rising to $102.40 per weeks for those who can meet the strict criteria for the youth homeless allowance (June 1991).

The "at home" Unemployment Benefit rate for 18 to 20-year-olds is $74.55 per week, rising to $113.25 per week for those living away from home. This compares with the 21 years and over Unemployment Benefit rate of $134.30 per week. In 1974/75 by contrast, all unemployed people received the same rate of benefit. The poverty line for a single person is $184.50 per week (December Quarter 1990).

Available research suggests that the unstated assumptions on which these lower benefit levels of under 21-year-olds are based, that young people receive ongoing family support or have lower living costs are of very doubtful validity (Maas 1988, p.7). A recent YACVic survey, What price independence, highlighted the lack of a lower cost structure for youth and the total inadequacy of benefit levels in relation to living costs (YACVic, Hartley 1989-)-.' - ---

The HREOC Report found that the low level of benefits prevented young people from being able to afford independent accommodation (HREOC Chapter 19).

With no job and such a low income young people have little access to the housing market. Their exclusion from stable housing is further exacerbated by changes in the housing market. Private rental housing has become increasingly expensive and difficult to obtain over the past 20 years. Availability of other housing options, including private board and rooming houses have dramatically declined.

The result is that the main options open to the unemployed young people, especially those under 21 (and therefore not eligible for "adult" unemployment benefits) are in the public housing sphere. (Currently less than 4 per cent of total housing stock in Victoria.) The Victorian Ministry of Housing

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recently released its singles' policy which removes any policy discrimination limiting young people's access to public housing. However, a lack of available and appropriate stock, and possibly discrimination at some local offices, remain issues which greatly limit young people's access to public housing. The stock currently available has mostly been provided through the Youth Initiative Scheme.

The major public housing option currently available to homeless young people in Victoria is the community managed Youth Housing Program (YHP). Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) funded support workers are usually attached to these programs. There is a very high demand for YHPs relative to the number of flats and houses available. In addition they are unsuitable both for young homeless people who don't need support and those who need more intensive or other forms of support. Yet as the review of the Youth Housing Program (1989) found, most homeless young people are referred to them regardless of need or suitability, because of the lack of other options. It was also the experience of this project that most homeless young people in refuges were referred to YHPs almost as a standard procedure, because of the limited alternative available.

Thus it is the inability of many young people to obtain long term and secure work, combined with low levels of social security benefits and changes to the housing market, which is causing the increasingly close association between young people leaving home and subsequently becoming homeless.

One of the obvious reasons for this is that unemployed young people lack a sufficient income to access the private rental market. However, because homelessness means much more than the lack of stable housing, and employment means more than the receipt of a regular wage, the link between unemployment and youth homelessness is much more than complex ..

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7.3 Exclusion, unemployment and homelessnessAs has been seen, employment is central to young people achieving a place in our society. Work is still central to the formation of identity and participation in the community. This role played by paid employment is socially determined, and open to social change.

Alternative means of ensuring "unemployed" people a place in our*society need to be developed. However until this social change occurs, unemployment will continue to mean "exclusion" for most of the individuals concerned.

It has also been seen that youth homelessness is also about exclusion to varying extents -from different aspects of mainstream society.

Unemployment is central to this exclusion. It has been argued that no one aspect of this exclusion, including unemployment, can be understood in isolation from each other. This is true even when the-impact and urgency of many other issues, particularly for chronically homeless young people, disguises it. For the vast majority of homeless young people, therefore, employment is central to reducing their level of exclusion from society and thus providing routes out of homelessness. The challenge, as will be seen, is how to meaningfully address homeless young people's employment aspirations in the context of the multitude of other issues they face. Clearly, however, the issue is much more than an income one alone. Higgins has been concerned that the youth sector has focussed too much on income issues alone, with the danger of creating a "welfare underclass that has no real access to a variety of meaningful opportunities in employment and education ..." (Higgins 1988, p.15).

This is not, of course, to deny the absolutely urgent need to raise youth incomes to a level where young people can access independent housing and other essential goods and services. However this should not obscure the fact that the bigger issue

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is providing young people with the resources to be able to successfully make a transition to independence, which as Edgar has noted, means, "resurround[ing] youth, creat[ing] a new place in society for them that relates to others, rather than continuing to push them into a new youth ghetto" (Maas &Hartley 1988, Foreword). At this stage in society's transition, this must involve the provision of meaningful and satisfying employment.

7.4 Transition, unemployment and homelessnessAs has been seen, employment plays a central role in young people's transition to adulthood. It has also been argued that homelessness can be understood as a failed transition. The lack of a meaningful job therefore plays a prime role in disrupting young people's transition to adulthood. Without the key role played by work in young people moving from dependency in relation to family and the wider community to interdependency, the assertion of independence can result in young people's ties to family and community being prematurely severed.

Without a job then, the possibilities of young people establishing their own meaningful identity and place as an adult in this community are greatly reduced. Conversely, the possibility that the process of young people asserting their independence in family and community relationships as they grow up will lead to increasing isolation and levels of exclusion is more likely if they are unemployed.

Unemployment therefore is a prime reason for the difficulties many young people are experiencing in making a successful transition to adulthood and youth homelessness is a manifestation of this.

The affects of unemployment also exacerbated the increasing confusion experienced by young people and their families in relation to the process of becoming adult. On the one hand periods of dependency are being extended through government income support policies and the increasing need to stay on at

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2*

school to obtain a job. On the other hand, there has been insufficient time for a corresponding change in social values to reflect this so that, for example, many families continue to expect their teenage children to contribute to family income.At the same time other social changes are leading to young people growing up quicker and being encouraged to assert their independence at an earlier age.

Unemployed teenagers often decided to leave school to achieve this independence and take the step to adulthood. When they find that the social rules have in effect changed and no jobs are available to them the result is likely to be increasing family conflict, anger, confusion and increasing alienation. This is not surprising given that it is not young people themselves who have changed, but the society around them. The process of social transition is happening too quickly to expect corresponding values and expectations of young people and their families.

7;5 Homeless young people's perspectivesHomeless young people recognise the link between their unemployment and homelessness, and this can be seen in the relative importance young people seem to place on employment and accommodation.

While, of course, in an immediate crisis situation there is nothing so essential as somewhere to stay, there is some evidence that even in crisis accommodation young people place a higher priority on obtaining work than accommodation.

The much greater importance given to employment by young people in the recent Western Australian study of homeless young people has already been cited. Another Western Australian survey of youth accommodation service users in 1987 found that 74 per cent saw advice and advocacy on employment as useful while 59 per cent did so on accommodation (Geviss 1987).

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There are of course many possible explanations for these findings. The most likely one, however, is not that they didn't regard accommodation as important, but that they recognise that employment is the key to finding genuinely independent accommodation or a "place of their own".

There is strong evidence that most homeless young people would prefer not to live in supported accommodation. They remain in supported accommodation because of income issues and lack of options but they aspire to be independent of it.

For example the Review of the Youth Housing Program in Victoria (1984, p.75) found that the average length of stay was less than six months and young people interviewed did not see it as a long-term option. Half had rented privately previously but had left mainly because of affordability and lack of income was the main reason most continued to live there (p.70).

The evaluation of the Carnegie Youth Housing Project which interviewed 80 young people in supported accommodation found that 60 wanted to rent privately (with 11.of these wanting some ongoing support) (Neil 1990, p.46).

The Western Australian study found that most young people only stayed in supported accommodation because they were unemployed:

It seems that if a young person is in work they don't stay in supported accommodation and that supported accommodation provides the bridge in the cycle during unemployment. It seems that when young people have sufficient income ... they quickly opt for exercising their independence. (De Vries 1989, p.36)

Similarly O'Connor found that

loss of jobs precipitated incidents of homelessness for young people in all locations, and that when the young people had jobs and accommodation they coped and managed well. (O'Connor 1989, p.48)

Thus the aspirations of homeless young people seem to reflect the society in which they live. They seek to become independent

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through employment and accessing the private rental market.They want entry level jobs which can give them these independent and long-term career prospects. Presumably they aspire to home ownership after some years of this like other young Australians.

Certainly the views of young people worked with and interviewed for this project would seem to confirm these findings. While these will be looked at in more detail later the overall view was summarised by the young people who noted if "I had a job I wouldn't be homeless would I". As another young woman noted "You can't live in a Brotherhood place all your life. It'd be like living somewhere where you are not fully independent... I need a job to get a place of my own".

Employment and independent housing seem to be central to most homeless young people's aspirations, regardless of the extent of their immediate needs. These goals of young people need to be taken seriously if routes out of homelessness are to be available to them.

The issue is then not young people's aspirations, these don't seem to have fundamentally changed over the past 20 years. Rather the problems occur because society no longer provides the means to achieve them - of which the most crucial is meaningful employment.

Thus young homeless people's own aspirations would seem ironically, to contribute to their problems; not because they seek an alternative to the social norm but because they continue to excessively conform to it despite their experience of exclusion.

Programs which focus on changing young people so that they better "fit in" to society, would seem then to largely miss the point.

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A more productive and progressive orientation would seem to be to focus on providing the means for young people to achieve their own long-term aspirations.

8. TOWARDS EFFECTIVE PROGRAM MODELS

8.1 Need for an integrated approachThe link between unemployment and homelessness is true for all homeless young people, even though the impact and urgency of many other issues in a homeless young persons life, often disguises it. The need to address these other issues does not reduce the long-term significance of a homeless young person's employment aspirations. The difficult challenge, seemingly rarely accepted, is to attempt to find an expression of these for a young person as part of an integrated approach to meeting their various needs. For many this can mean assisting them to find a job immediately. For some a job may be a longer term goal reached by a number of stages, which vary according to an individual's situation.

A major theme of the HREOC Report is that the increased specialisation of services to meet labour market, housing, income security, educational, health, family counselling, legal and other needs has been detrimental to disadvantaged young people and contributed to both the causes of youth homelessness, and the ineffectiveness of many programs and policies designed to prevent it.' The needs of homeless young people it argued, can not be easily compartmentalised. A wholistic perspective is needed to effectively work with them.

The boundaries between different program areas have their origins in the policy distinctions between different government departments. Policies and programs in one department have been formulated with seemingly little regard to the consequences in other areas. Funding guidelines and service agreements set performance indicators narrowly defined in their area of interest leaving other areas of need as optional extras which staff have little time for and are thus largely ignored.

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The result is that in any particular program only certain needs of homeless young people can be met, and because of the urgency of other needs which are all impacting on each other, the program understandably seems irrelevant to them.

The youth housing and employment and training fields provide prime examples of these issues. Despite their shared roots in the-emergence of high levels of youth unemployment during the 1970s, the youth housing and youth labour market fields have developed in virtual isolation from each other.

On the housing side, available evidence suggests that youth housing workers do little work with young people on employment and training issues (De Vries 1990).

McDermott's description of the Northcote Accommodation Project would seem to be applicable to many other youth housing programs. "The Project did not define living skills to include jobs and education. This-was defended by the Project designing itself a s h housing project" (McDermott 1984, p.107).

On the employment and training side, the capacity of programs to pick up on other issues, including housing, has steadily declined during the 1980s. CYSS guidelines were changed in 1986 to remove "the capacity to develop self reliance" as a program goal (HREOC 1989, p.287).

SkillShare has further restricted this labour market focus and almost all programs now lack the resources to be able to pick up on housing (or other issues) if they are to successfully meet their performance indicators which are rigidly defined in terms of employment/training outcomes. Even special projects for disadvantaged young people only use these indicators of success.

This is despite the fact that there is overwhelming evidence that it is these other issues which are to a large extent

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impacting on disadvantaged young people's capacity to participate in or complete programs, and that homeless young people are part of the SkillShare target group (HREOC 1989, Chapter 23; VCOSS 1990, p.40; Hartley 1988).

The result is that programs seem forced to "cream off" the least disadvantaged young people if they are to successfully meet their performance indicators.

The need therefore is for integrated approaches to youth homelessness, particularly in the housing and employment and training fields.

8.2 Need for a diversity of responseHomeless young people share two main thing in common - their youth and a social environment which is excluding them from a range of services and resources. The importance of this shared experience can be seen in the research which emphasises the crucial support role played by homeless young people's own networks..

Many researchers and commentators however are stressing that it is equally important to recognise that young people, homeless or otherwise, are not a homogeneous group but have a broad range of individual needs. As a Harrison Youth Services worker commented to the author "We all know that every child is different. Why then do we think that all homeless kids are the same?"

8.2.1 HousingThe need for a broad range of housing options corresponding to individual needs was stressed by the HREOC Report. Some of these options include community placements, boarding houses, self-contained flats, shared houses and emergency accommodation. These were seen to need to include a range of support options from fully independent to external support and residential staff (HREOC 1989, Chapter 18).

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The two broad areas of need which seem to be most neglected are the need for long-term independent accommodation for those without support needs and the need for specific accommodation programs to be developed for those with very special support needs.

The shortage of accommodation options for these two groups means that they tend to all be referred to the same programs with little regard to individual situations.

For example in Victoria the Youth Housing Program Review found that the Youth Housing Program accommodated the full range of young people, "from those who need intensive support, to those who only require affordable housing" (p.72). The Review emphasised the need for the Program to be better targeted but. that this could only occur if a wider range of housing options were developed.

The Youth Housing Program Review recommended that it clearly became a supported accommodation program.but not for those with... large support needs'. Most youth housing programs do now have a support worker attached, and in this Report it is considered as a supported accommodation program.

8.2.2 Employment and training programsThe need for a greater diversity of employment and training programs according to the range of individual needs was emphasised by the HREOC Report.

There is concern that individual program's capacity to be flexible and respond to individual, groups and local community issues has been dramatically reduced with the tightening of funding guidelines since the introduction of SkillShare.

The basic concern can be summarised as the increasing requirement that young people fit into rigid or predetermined course formats, which make no recognition of their individual situation.

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In particular there is seen to be a need for a greater range of programs which incorporate on-the-job training, lead to real jobs in the primary labour market, provide support and resourcing on other issues and pay an adequate training allowance (YACVic 1987; Maas 1988, p.58; McClelland & Sheen 1988).

The traineeship system provides a good example of the issues involved. The original objective of traineeships was that they "fit traineeships to young people" (YACVic 1987, p.10). Kirby's concerns about the discrepancies between what traineeships were meant to provide and what they have in fact become, has already been noted.

Sheen's evaluation of the Brotherhood of St Laurence's traineeship program showed the need to match disadvantaged young people carefully with traineeships. A joint BSL/YACVic paper has explored these issues in greater depth (YACVic 1987). -The most fundamental issue-involved is training programs not being linked to job outcomes. This affects participation and motivation, for the understandable reason that training alone cannot provide young homeless people with what they currently want and need.

The issue in both traineeships and other employment and training options is then that the lack of diversity of programs and their lack of flexibility seems to be a primary reason for the documented exclusion of very disadvantaged and homeless young people from accessing or completing them.

Many commentators have also expressed concern that the move away from a range of job creation programs at both a federal and state level since the mid 1980s to an almost exclusive focus on training, has also had a detrimental effect on disadvantaged young people. The HREOC Report argued that, "both job creation and job training should be part of a co-ordinated response to assisting homeless youth" (p.291). Again the issue

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is the need for a diversity of employment and training programs if the wide range of individual needs are to be met.

8.3 The special programs' issueDespite the broad range of individual needs, it seems useful in both the housing and employment and training areas, to acknowledge a broad distinction between homeless young people who need special programs, and those who just need the right of access to mainstream programs.

Fopp (1987, p.7) argues there is a need to distinguish between those who need support and housing. Golhale (1987) distinguishes between "streetkids" and "homeless young people", arguing that "accommodation is the primary need of homeless youth, whereas street kids mainly require support. The need for counselling, education, vocational training and assistance in employment", she sees as "common to both groups" (p.20).

The HREOC Report distinguishes between three groups, those who were regularly in and out of home, those who were permanently out of home "but need only a minimum of support, and perhaps some luck, in order to move into independent living situations ...", and a "third group (who) are chronically homeless. They are young people who, for whatever reason are unable to move on to independent living situations... The reasons may include age, intellectual disability, emotional disturbance, poor education, inadequate living skills and extreme poverty ..." (p.44). Over a period of time this group has entered into a cycle of homelessness which involves a lifestyle which makes it very difficult for young people to participate in any part of mainstream society, with this exclusion resulting in further alienation, and so on. It is this group which is frequently portrayed in media images of homeless young people. The danger of this is that the assumption is then easily made that the problem of youth homelessness is primarily one of the lifestyles of homeless youth. Consistent with this, government policies seem to have increasingly assumed that all homeless young people have welfare related support needs. Fopp (1987,

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p.6) is concerned that homelessness is therefore in danger of becoming a "welfare" issue instead of a "rights" issue. Fopp (1987, p.30) argues that for most young people "leaving home does not cause homelessness - unemployment, under employment and inadequate income do". Their need is not primarily for support or special programs, but access to employment, mainstream housing and other services. This does not mean there is no need for support programs. Rather a range of programs providing different levels of support are important, but these should be linked also to resources which provide opportunities for young people to move toward greater levels of independence.

As the National Youth Coalition for Housing noted:Many young people do not require support - their problems are income related, and are more properly resolved through having.the right to real paid employment, and adequate income support in its absence, and, as always, access to affordable and secure public housing". (NYCH 1986)

In the housing area, this view that all homeless young people need support has led to most government efforts being focused in the supported accommodation area.

Similarly, with the exclusion of homeless young people from mainstream employment and training programs there is a risk that the focus of community concern may shift to the need for special programs for homeless youth, rather than their right of access to mainstream programs.

The HREOC Report recommended that special programs be developed (HREOC 1989, Chapter 23). Recently there was an attempt to implement such a program in Queensland. The value of this project was demonstrated in the evaluation (Stokes 1989). However the principles underlying this program seem to be largely those which other researchers have argued are important in all employment and training programs targeted at disadvantaged young people. If such a range of flexible programs were available, as discussed in the previous section, the extent of the need for such "special programs" would be clearer.

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It is certainly very doubtful that the conclusion reached from the evaluation of the Queensland project, that there may be the need for such a program for all the estimated 7,000 homeless youth in Queensland, would be valid (Wotherspoon & Stokes 1990).

As for the accommodation field, it is. important that any special employment and training initiatives are seen to be one part of a diversified response, rather than a substitute for addressing the fundamental issue of young people's exclusion from mainstream programs.

The major issue then would not seem to be the need for special programs although some may be needed to improve access to mainstream programs. While a focus on homeless young people in labour market programs is certainly needed, it is existing programs which have homeless young people as part of the target group (particularly SkillShare), which need to ensure their relevance to these young people. Similarly housing..programs must ensure that homeless young people's employment (and related education and training) aspirations are taken seriously and the appropriate resources available to them. This must involve existing labour market and housing programs developing a more integrated approach both through adapting their services and developing partnerships with each other.

8.4 Victorian examples of integrated programsThere have only been four Victorian programs identified which are integrated in that they address both the housing and employment/training issues of young people. These programs have developed out of housing services and then provided an employment/training component because of the need. Some were able to take advantage of the money available for job creation programs in the mid 1980s and their size has subsequently shrunk since this funding source was lost. A couple of programs are in immediate danger of closing because they no longer fit into funding guidelines. Two of the programs have more secure

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SkillShare programs, but both of these have had some difficulty in integrating the SkillShare component with the rest of the program because of SkillShare guidelines.

8.4.1 Crossroads Youth NetworkCrossroads, the Salvation Army auspiced program for homeless young people, provides a range of housing options, an employment initiative (its Industries Program) and training courses (through its Special SkillShare Project - Employment 2000). Its Industries Program employs about 10 young people per year on an ongoing basis, but is able to provide some casual work to about another 100 per year. Most of these are young people who have used the accommodation services.

The SkillShare project however does not seem to have been integrated to the same extent. Crossroads' experience is that very few homeless or at risk young people were able to complete any of the 12 or 15-week courses available. Recently it has therefore been decided to try and change the program to develop one based around individual need which allows a more flexible response. It is planned that each individual will have their own program selected from a range of courses of relatively short duration with fewer people in them. Each completed module will be self-contained, but will also be one step towards the completion of the program which may take anything from 12 weeks to a year or more, depending on the individual circumstances of the young people.

8.4.2 Hanover Welfare ServicesHanover Welfare Services has formerly mainly worked with older homeless people but more recently with the increasing numbers of young homeless people using Gordon House, and the development of Hanover South for young people, this has been changing. Hanover has a Day Centre with a workshop where work capabilities are assessed and a small allowance is paid, and a SkillShare committed to working with homeless people of 18, years or older.

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Both these employment/training programs seem to have had some success in ensuring access for homeless young people. The critical elements of success would seem to be the long-term nature of the work with homeless people, the range and flexibility of the courses themselves, and the ability to draw on other resources in the organisation to provide extra support when it is needed.

However while the SkillShare does attract some Gordon House residents to its courses, and these links are facilitated by their common auspicing organisations, the two programs are run independently of each other and in this sense do not represent an integrated program.

8.4.3 Harrison Youth ServicesHarrison Youth Services provides a range of accommodation options, mostly for young people under 18 years, many of whom are on a statutory order. They also run a successful SkillShare project. This however has attracted very few of the residents of their accommodation program. However another employment project, Climbing Beans, which involved young people working for between three to five months on the construction of garden furniture and equipment, was very successful in attracting young people from the supported accommodation program.

The critical factors in its success seem to be that training was on-the-job, that it provided meaningful work ("a real job"), that there were reasonable wages paid and a very skilled worker running it.

The experience of Harrison Youth Services is that despite support to do so, most of these young people who completed Climbing Beans have not been able to access other training programs or employment. Climbing Beans is presently closed. The only alternative is for it to become a SkillShare project, because no other government funding sources are available. This would mean the loss of what is seen to be an essential element of its success - the provision of a "real job" with "real

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wages". It is particularly unfortunate that this program currently closed without any evaluation having occurred.

8.4.4 The Brosnan CentreThe Brosnan Centre works with young offenders and ex-offenders, many of whom have been institutionalised and are either currently homeless or at high risk of becoming homeless. The Brosnan Centre is an integrated program because it combines a range of accommodation services with an employment initiative. The employment project is a horticultural business where young people can obtain casual work on a temporary or ongoing basis. Again because of its flexibility and availability, because some allowance is paid, and because the program has the capacity to meet other needs, it has been successful in attracting homeless young people. The project has recently lost its funding and currently does not seem to fit into any labour market funding guidelines.

This is a genuinely integrated program in that most of the young people involved in the training program are residents of the Brosnan Centre housing services. Last year 27 out of 62 of these very disadvantaged young people who participated in the training program found full-time employment and 70 per cent of these are still in a job.

8.4.5 DiscussionThe overall trend seems to be towards less integration of employment and housing programs because of the change in government policy on labour market programs. Given the strong need for integrated programs this would seem to be of major concern and another example of government policy in one department undermining the apparent commitment to integration in others. The difficulties of integrating SkillShare programs, even "special projects", because of funding guidelines are apparent, although the creative possibilities can also be seen.

Successful projects seem to provide supporting evidence for those principles, outlined earlier, which researchers have

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considered important if disadvantaged young people are to have effective access to labour market programs.

All projects which provided training through paid employment were successful in attracting young homeless people. Only Hanover of the "training only" programs were able to. attract some of the homeless young people using its accommodation services.

Hanover was in a position to meet many of the other needs of young people, through the other resources in the organisation and work often done with them before they started the courses. (They also only worked with the slightly older age group.)The changes being implemented by Crossroads' Employment 2000 program would seem to be a particularly innovative response to some of the identified issues.

Combining services within the one program is not of course the only way to achieve an integrated response. Close co-operation between agencies can potentially achieve similar advantages.

There are limits to the extent to which this can occur until policy has changed to allow the development of more varied and flexible employment and training programs which are able to meet the needs of homeless young people. However there would certainly seem to be the potential for greater access levels to be achieved with improved integration between the youth housing sector and labour market programs.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that it is still relatively uncommon for youth housing workers to work closely with local labour market programs. There are many program and resourcing issues involved here, and to a large extent it also probably reflects frustration with the suitability of existing labour market programs for their clients. However the available research on the attitudes of youth housing workers to the employment and training of their clients is nevertheless of concern. In the Western Australian survey, cited earlier, only

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five of the 19 workers interviewed say the young people obtaining work is of central importance. They believed other issues needed to be resolved first, even though the young people saw these as closely related to getting a job (De Vries 1990).

This report was concerned about the different and ambivalent views of workers towards employment and training, and recommended further work by the Youth Accommodation Coalition of Western Australia in this area. Low & Crawshaw (1985) found that youth workers "placed little emphasis" on "fitting young people into the work force", with them seeing this as a conservative response to youth homelessness.

The experience of the Employment Action Centre staff and this project is that even with appropriate support it is very difficult to link homeless young people into existing training programs. Despite all the problems it is important that this integration occurs to the maximum extent possible if homeless young people are to begin to access them, and the programs themselves become aware of the needs of this client group.

8.5 The Employment Action Centre experience

8.5.1 Results of work with young peopleEighteen homeless-ybung people (10 young men and eight young women) were Vorked with during this project. All the young people were clients of the Active Placement Unit (APU) of the Employment Action Centre (EAC). The action researcher worked with these young people without access to any housing directly controlled by the Employment Action Centre. Similarly the APU worker followed up on their employment and training needs without access to any jobs controlled by the Employment Action Centre, and a very limited choice of direct Employment Action Centre training possibilities. The project also coincided with the onset of an economic recession which saw a dramatic increase in unemployment, particularly among teenagers. The project therefore principally relied on accessing what was

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available to homeless young people in the community, both in the housing and employment/training areas, during a recession. The outcome of the work with young people reflect this. They also reflect, however, what is possible, even with these constraints, given a concerted, concentrated and creative effort to provide young people with routes out of homelessness through an integrated employment and housing service.

Of the 18 young people worked with, five were assisted into short-term accommodation in a private hotel or boarding house, and seven were assisted into long-term stable accommodation. Another two found long-term accommodation through the support of a refuge. Four of these found private rental accommodation, and one each private board, direct tenure public housing, and a long-term independent living hostel.

Six young people found employment, all but one with some Employment Action Centre assistance. This was directly linked to a long-term accommodation outcome for all but two young people, one of whom had already accessed public housing. A job enabled one to find a flat, one to retain a flat, one to live - in a hostel and one in private board. Another young person found a job and a flat of his own after being assisted to return to his interstate home by the Employment Action Centre.

It is significant that the only two who retained jobs throughout the project were the only ones to access jobs in the primary labour market, or entry level jobs with some long-term prospects. One of these was an internal BSL job and the other was achieved through the direct and timely support of a senior Commonwealth Government Minister.

None of the young people completed a training program during the project, and only one even begun one. Six of the other young people expressed an interest in a training program, but for a variety of individual reasons, this was never begun. The others were not interested in unpaid training at all unless it could be shown to be directly linked to employment and finding

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a job. These findings are a disturbing confirmation of the fact that intensive support alone won't improve homeless young people's access to training opportunities until these programs are made more relevant to their needs.

8.5.2 EAC program issuesThe EAC sought to develop its program for homeless young people because of the large numbers of homeless clients they were seeing. Initially staff saw this as the program developing a capacity to house homeless young people while they were completing training or looking for work. As the action research project developed, however, there initial ideas changed many times as different issues emerged. This program development was and continues to be an ongoing process. Certainly the EAC's experience highlights the fact that other labour market programs will need to make an equally strong commitment to homeless young people if the difficulties and challenges of developing an effective response are to be overcome. Equally however the EAC's experience does show that relevant and accessible programs can emerge. Some of the major issues which the EAC have experienced include:

1. Homeless young people's motivation issues Labour market programs, including the EAC, require homeless young people to be motivated to attend the program. This can act to unintentionally exclude homeless young people if these young people see no gains from this attendance.

The project worker experienced great difficulty in maintaining the commitment of the homeless young people when there was, in effect, so little to offer them. It was unrealistic to expect a homeless young person to maintain motivation to attend the Employment Action Centre while the Employment Action Centre has so little capacity to directly access housing, employment or other resources.

Overcoming these issues is requiring the EAC to have the ability to directly access some of their resources both through

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developing its own program and establishing close links with other agencies to work together on the issues facing homeless young people, rather than just relying on referrals.

2. Outreach and follow-up issuesThe outcomes which were achieved by the project followed quite intensive and active follow-up, including visiting young people in their own environments. Work with homeless young people can not be done primarily from an office.

3. The importance of addressing employment and training options "first"

The EAC's initial aim was to develop some housing options for its homeless young people. However, the problem soon appeared that far from ensuring an integrated approach this was likely to in fact result in the development of a separate housing program.

The first and most immediate need became to develop a range of employment and training options relevant to homeless young people. This means there needs to be a range of flexible options, which are far more closely related to direct work experience. Because of homeless young people's commitment a job rather than unpaid training not linked to job outcomes, the development of appropriate training packages linked to paid work experience became a particular priority.

4. The question of housing stockThe experience of this project is that it is not essential, or even necessarily desirable for a labour market program to actually manage housing stock to develop an integrated program. The need is rather that housing issues are addressed. The actual running and managing of stock is likely to consume considerable staff resources while housing relatively few homeless young people. For most programs the major need will be to develop closer links with existing housing providers. The EAC's experience is that there still is a need for money to be available to assist young people to access available housing options. This may be short-term housing or help for those who

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are ready, to access independent private rental housing. This is more important than the actual management of housing stock. This project had some success in improving homeless young people's access to the private rental market just through providing young people with information and support to do this. This suggests that there may be more possibilities to support homeless young people in accessing such housing than is commonly assumed, particularly during periods of relatively high rental vacancies such as corresponded with the project.

5. The importance of the working relationship Homeless young people are often used to being excluded. The quality of the relationship between the worker and young person is crucial to overcoming this, and encouraging their participation in any program. Just as importantly, without this participation it becomes very difficult to work with them on developing an understanding of the best way to achieve their goals. Some homeless young people need only a job and independent accommodation. Others will have this as a goal but will need, because their transition to adulthood has been so disrupted, to be supported through a number of other stages first. Understanding the needs of a homeless young person can only come through working closely with them. This relationship in turn will only develop if there is some capacity to meet some of their identified and immediate needs.

6. The importance of staff- philosophy and theoretical base Without a strong-coinmitment to homeless young people, and a theoretical base which provides an understanding of the overall situation faced by homeless young people, individual actions will be misunderstood and quickly lead to the exclusion of the' more difficult young people from the program. While youth housing workers have on the whole developed experience in understanding these issues, the training and work backgrounds of labour market training staff are often not in this area, and other relevant knowledge and theoretical base will need to be acquired.

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7. The difficulty of maintaining an employment/training focus It is very important that labour market programs maintain an employment/training focus in their work with homeless young people because of the importance of this neglected area. The EAC's experience is that this can be very difficult to do particularly in working with the chronically homeless who have so many other immediate needs. It would seem from the experience of this project that working with this group of homeless young people requires close partnerships with another agency which has the capacity to pick up on some of these issues. As part of the shared work with the young people their employment and training aspirations can then still be taken seriously as part of an overall integrated approach.

These are some of the issues which have emerged from the EAC experience. Other labour market programs would face different challenges if they sought to develop their programs to meet the needs of homeless young people.

The recommendations in this Report provide a policy framework to facilitate some of these issues being overcome, but this will be no substitute for a strong commitment from program * " staff to dealing with local issues as they emerge. Policy change on its own will amount to very little unless more staff and organisations in the employment and training field commit themselves to working with this very disadvantaged group. '

At some time, however, without policy change even programs who have this commitment to homeless young people will lack the flexibility and the resources to develop an integrated approach.

9. CASE STUDIES

A cross-section of case studies is presented here. Names have been changed to respect confidentiality.

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JudyJudy is a 20-year-old young woman. She left home at 17 and then lived in a range of accommodation, from a private rental house to a squat. She returned home intermittently for short periods. After two years she was admitted to a large psychiatric hospital because, as Judy understands it, she was "manic". Judy stayed in hospital for three months before moving to a residential facility in the community. She stayed there for about 10 months. During the last three months she came under increasing pressure to find alternative accommodation because "her time was up".

She received no direct assistance in this however from the staff as they believed that she needed to become more self- motivated. She was not however considered suitable for the agency's own independent living program, because staff believed that she needed too much support and really required hospitalisation again. There was thus a paradoxical situation occurring where she was being given no support to move to a situation of independence, because she was considered to need too much support.

The Employment Action Centre was successful in finding Judy employment. This was a "proper job", which although not what Judy aspired to do in the long-term, had many advantages for her in achieving these goals. Very soon after Judy was able, with some one off financial assistance from the Employment Action Centre, to access a private rental flat. This was after a month of intensive and unsuccessful work to access other accommodation options with her that she could afford on DSS benefits. She has now been living there for six months with minimal external support, and is doing well in her job.

While Judy's transition to independence may have been unusually easy, her situation does highlight how difficult it is to assess the extent of a young person's support needs until their access to meaningful employment and housing of their choice is assured. Within the context of a hostel environment, Judy

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seemed to have many complex support needs. However, once she obtained employment, and a place of her own, many of these were no longer apparent. Obtaining employment was critical for Judy successfully accessing the private rental market while stable accommodation has clearly enabled her to retain work.

CraigCraig is a 17-year-old young man who left home about three months ago after experiencing conflict with his family over the previous 12 months. Since then Craig has stayed in refuges and with friends.

Craig seems to have minimal support needs. He comes from a relatively stable family and maintains regular contact with them, although all parties agree that returning home to live is not a realistic possibility.

Craig was able to obtain YHA/JSA with the assistance of refuge workers which gave him an income of $102.40 per week. With the assistance of workers he was placed on the waiting lists.of most youth housing programs, but received no other employment, training or housing assistance.

Craig wanted to share a flat with his girlfriend, but had no idea how to access the private rental market. At the Employment Action Centre Craig was given advice about how to do this, and because he presents well, chose to lie about his age and claimed to be a student, he was able to obtain a one-bedroom flat. Craig could not have achieved this without financial assistance from the Employment Action Centre as the Ministry of Housing will no longer pay the first month's rent under their Bond and Relocation Scheme.

Craig then decided to go back to school, because of his difficulty in finding employment. He later left school again but with Employment Action Centre assistance was able to find work. The income from this is now ensuring that he can meet his rental payments.

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MaryMary is a 16-year-old young woman from a non-English speaking family living in the western suburbs. She left school and home about four months ago to escape abuse at home. Mary has subsequently stayed in refuges. She has considerable support needs and staff have considered her to be very vulnerable in a refuge environment. She is believed to need, and want, about 12 months in supported accommodation before she's ready to move on.

All Mary's support networks are in the western suburbs and she desperately wanted to stay there.

Because she was a non-statutory client, she was unable to access either of the two hostels considered most suitable for her needs. As a result she was referred to a hostel out of her familiar region; Two days later she returned home.

Mary had great support needs. She is an example of a young woman who was unable to obtain the support she needed because of the lack of diversity of housing options and other supports available, and the availability of housing options to teenagers in Victoria still being defined by their statutory status rather than need.

The immediacy of Mary's other needs and frequent moves meant that she never followed through on any of the training courses arranged for her. Despite the turbulence of her life she did however obtain a job but lost it when her accommodation was again disrupted.

IanIan is a 17-year-old young man who has not lived at home since he was 14. Since then he has lived in the full range of accommodation available to young people in both Tasmania, where he comes from, Victoria and elsewhere. This has included youth training centres, squats, the streets, boarding houses and

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cheap hotels, virtually every refuge in Melbourne and even the Gold Coast beach.

Ian hates living in refuges and resists the rules and structures of them vigorously. As a result, and because of his history of violence, Ian has been banned from all the Melbourne refuges.

Ian wants to live independently. Given his unsuitability for supported accommodation, according to both his own view and that of workers, this would seem in fact the only available option. Ian had not, however, ever had any assistance to obtain work despite a fairly extensive employment history, mainly in short-term jobs. Nor has he ever been given any assistance to find a long-term flat either in the private rental market, youth housing program or other public housing. He believes that this is because workers haven't believed that he was ready for this.

Ian came to the Employment Action Centre to find work. He was also assisted here to try and access a private rental flat but became quite demoralised when an agent told him that "he was wasting his time without a job". Soon after he left Melbourne after an incident with the police.

Ian had many individual resources and strengths. His comments and insights about this project were some of the most useful to the researcher. While he clearly had ongoing support needs, it was also clearly impossible for these to ever be addressed except through helping him to reach his own goals. The only option which seems never to have been tried with Ian was to provide him with intensive support to assist him to find what he actually wanted - a job and a flat on his own.

While there are no easy solutions to Ian's situation there also seems to be no doubt that his exclusion from meaningful employment and independent housing and his restriction to supported accommodation options against his will, has

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confounded the other issues in his life over a long period of time.

JackJack is a 16-year-old young man who came to Melbourne last November from interstate after conflict with his parents. Jack initially stayed with relatives but when this broke down, moved to a refuge. Here he met two other more chronically homeless young people, and after an argument with staff at the refuge about curfew times, went to live with them in a Fitzroy squat.

The Employment Action Centre had previously assisted Jack to access a SkillShare course, and prior to him moving to the refuge, he had been doing well at this. As soon as his accommodation became unstable however, he stopped attending the course.

Jack started to become involved in some petty crime, and he seemed to be entering a deeper cycle of homelessness. Particularly after Jack began living in squats, he became difficult to contact, but the effort made to do-this ensured that the relationship with Employment Action Centre staff was strengthened and maintained over time. Eventually the housing worker was able to talk to him and his family about a return home. The Greyhound bus scheme, Operation Home Free, was successfully utilised to this despite strong objections from the local police who believed Employment Action Centre staff were "using the system". Jack obtained work in his home-town, now rents a flat on his own, and has regular contact with his family. A card from Jack is attached.

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JennyJenny is a 16-year-old young Koori woman, who describes herself as a "Sydney streetie". She has lived literally on the streets and in squats in Sydney for two and a half years, apart from a short period in protective custody. Jenny hates refuges and even under the most desperate circumstances has avoided them. She believes that refuges "aren't for streeties anymore" and "only want yuppie kids living there". For Jenny avoiding refuges and looking after herself is central to her own sense of who she is. She values her independence above anything else.

Contact with Jenny was established through other young people then sharing her squat. It took some time to build a trusting relationship with Jenny, with the critical factor being the employment Action Centre arranging for Jenny to visit her mother at an interstate nursing home. Jenny had not seen her mother for about four years.

This visit has begun the healing process for Jenny. It has also given her a clear aim in life, to eventually be in a position to be able to resume care of her mother. Jenny wants a job where she 'can care for others. She is a particularly 'intelligent and sensitive young woman, and with support and the opportunities, would seem to have much to offer in this area.

When Jenny returned from visiting her mother, her housing situation was stabilised by finding her a decent hotel to stay in. She was evicted when the owner discovered she had a criminal record, despite paying her rent regularly. There followed three weeks living in a local rooming house, before Jenny was able, with the assistance of the Mission to Streets and Lanes to access a private rental flat. This was done by the Mission leasing the flat and then renting it to Jenny and her friend at full market rent.

After three months intensive work Jenny's living situation is finally stable. She is beginning to move out of homelessness. Because of the difficulties in finding a job she is doing some

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voluntary work at the Mission to Streets and Lanes in developing their program for homeless young people, and is considering doing some more voluntary work at a local nursing home.

SallySally is a 20-year-old young woman who had been unemployed for over two years when she came to the Employment Action Centre. She was then staying on the floor of a friend's flat, and had lived in a similar way over a considerable period of time. Previously she had been in state welfare institutions and psychiatric centres.

Sally did not return to the Employment Action Centre after her initial visit, and active follow-up was required to restore contact, including visiting her at her friend's flat. Initially attempts were made to link Sally into a shared house, but it became evident over time that Sally lacked the personal confidence to pursue this.

Sally's moods were quite volatile at this stage, and at many times she had little hope of finding a job or permanent accommodation. However, Sally's situation changed because of a public housing flat becoming available under the Youth Initiative Scheme (YIS). There are only a small number of flats available under this program (it was the local Ministry of Housing office's' first YIS flat to be allocated) Sally was very fortunate to access that. The contact which had been made between the Employment Action Centre and the local office was the critical factor in this.

Sally's next stroke of fortune was the opportunity, through the Employment Action Centre, to meet with a senior Commonwealth Government Minister who personally intervened to provide her with a short-term employment opportunity. Sally has done so well in this job that she is likely to be retained.

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Sally now has a flat and a good job. She is a confident and articulate young woman who is contributing significantly to the community through her work.

On one level she was very "lucky" to have the opportunity she had. On another level her "luck" simply gave her access to what most other Australians still take for granted - the opportunity to work and to live in stable accommodation.

NeilNeil is a 17-year-old young man who came to Melbourne because of his difficulty in finding work in the interstate country town where he lived. Neil did not need the support provided through youth housing programs but because he was unable to afford to rent or share other accommodation, he was referred to them by the refuge where he was staying anyway. The focus of the Employment Action Centre's work was to assist him to find employment so he could rent a flat. Neil was not interested in training because of his urgent need of an income. Eventually Neil gave up looking for a job and returned to his hometown where he could at least stay with friends.,.Neil recently returned to Melbourne again, because of his determination to try and find a job.

BillBill was the first young person worked with during this project. Bill is a 15-year-old young man from interstate who came to Melbourne to re-establish contact with his father. He was unable to live with his father and instead ended up in a refuge. Bill had been involved with the interstate welfare authorities who advised that there was little point in encouraging Bill to return home because of his very unstable living situation. Bill obtained work, largely by his own efforts, and for two months did very well in this job. With assistance of the Employment Action Centre and the refuge he then moved into a private board arrangement, with his own bungalow.

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For a month Bill seemed to continue to do well where he was living and at work. However, Bill then committed a serious assault in the community and is now under secure detention.

Bill's situation shows how the previous life experiences of some homeless young people may continue to impact even after their life situation seems to have stabilised. A job and somewhere to live is not always enough. However, it is also true that Bill has experienced a short period of stability and growth, which are now providing him with motivation and commitment to "have another go".

If the supports and opportunities for him to do this are not available on his release, there will be little possibility for him to ever overcome the personal damage experienced by what seems to have been a lifetime of neglect.

10. SUMMARY

Homeless young people need more than adequate shelter. The cause of their homelessness is not just a lack of affordable accommodation. Their experience of homelessness is an experience of exclusion from much more than affordable housing. And the solutions to homelessness require more than a housing response.

This report has argued that unemployment is the primary reason why young people leaving home for whatever reason, is increasingly associated with subsequent homelessness. It has seen unemployment as integral to young homeless people's wider experience of exclusion, and has argued that providing access to employment in the primary labour market is an essential component of any solution to youth homelessness.

Unemployment is not a complete explanation for homelessness, and nor are decent jobs an all encompassing solution. The expense of homelessness affects all aspects of a young person's life, and these cannot then always be easily disentangled.

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This report has attempted to show some of these links, particularly between employment and housing. It has argued that attempting to provide for one of these needs, without addressing the others, results in limited and ineffective solutions.

It could be argued however that available evidence suggests that it is employment rather than the more self evident housing- situation of young people, which is the crucial axis around which other dimensions of homelessness revolve.

The evidence for this lies primarily in the central role which employment plays in young people's successful transition to independence. Employment has been seen to provide much more that a source of independent income. It is closely related to the development of identity, self esteem and sense of well being. It is still largely the gateway to obtaining a meaningful adult place in Australian society and receiving a share of its resources.

Over the past 20 years, economic change has closed this gateway to many young people, with the loss of many traditional entry level jobs and the emergence of sustained high levels of youth unemployment. Homeless young people continue to access work, at least in good economic times, but these are mainly jobs in the secondary labour market which by their nature offer, at best, short breaks in their cycle of homelessness.

While the resources needed to make the transition to independence are no longer available to large numbers of young people, the attitudes, goals and expectations of them and their families have, in many cases, not changed. Young people continue to leave home at a similar age as 20 years ago. The result for many young people is, predictable, homelessness.

Government policies and programs, rather than mitigating the profound social effects of these structural changes in the

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labour market, seem to exacerbate it. Social security benefits increasingly assume an extended period of family dependence, despite all the evidence that social expectations developed over hundreds of years do not change so easily.

Housing policies still largely exclude young people from public housing, both because of the shortage of stock and discrimination against them, and don't facilitate access to the private rental market. Employment and training programs are funded with guidelines which act (unintentionally) to exclude homeless young people. Job creation and generation programs have largely been abandoned.

The result is that young people are not being effectively assisted to make the crucial transition to (inter) independent adulthood. Rather the focus seems to be mainly on supported accommodation programs, which support young people through homelessness, but lack the resources to help them end it.

These programs are essential for some homeless young people. However to rely on them alope as the main strategy to counter youth homelessness will simply perpetuate the problem, and prevent effective support being provided to those who really need it.

There is an urgent need for policies and programs which seek to end youth homelessness by giving young people access to the resources which they need to move to independence. Employment .initiatives will be the key to this.

These employment and training programs will, according to the available research, need to be integrated with housing programs (although not necessarily within the one organisation), lead to jobs in the primary labour market and have a wholistic perspective which is able to respond to a range of individual needs. Their aim will need to be to address the structural causes which underpin young people's experiences, and not just seek to change the young people in themselves.

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Such a focus on ending homelessness would seem from the research to have a major ally in the young people themselves.

Homeless young people do want to work. There is no evidence that their values and aspirations are different from other young people. It is the changes in society over the past 20 years, not changes in young people themselves, which have led to youth homelessness.

The solutions lie in providing resources, supports and opportunities for young people to realise their aspirations.The current challenge, while difficult, is in many ways relatively straightforward. A more serious and costly situation however will inevitably emerge if nothing is done. Homeless young people will, as has occurred in some of the large American cities, give up on a society which continues to exclude them and develop an alternative subculture in conflict with wider social values.

New opportunities for social participation.for homeless young people must be found before this situation occurs. Employment remains the key to this participation. Without action on employment issues, supported accommodation programs cannot overcome homeless young people's experience of exclusion, and indeed run the risk of confining many thousands of young people to extended periods of dependence as members of a new welfafe underclass.

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$

RECOMMENDATIONS

Developing employment and training programs which are relevant and accessible to homeless young people is a challenging task and requires a considerable commitment from staff and agencies to working with this "difficult" client group. These efforts currently need to be supported and encouraged through government policy. Policies should be formulated to support those community groups seeking to develop integrated labour market programs for homeless young persons as currently occurs. The Commonwealth Department of Employment, Education and Training (DEET) particularly needs to develop policies to better facilitate access and participation of homeless young people in the labour market programs it provides. The following recommended policy changes therefore are primarily directed to obtaining a high priority for homeless young people in the operations of DEET labour market programs.

1. Target groupRecommendation 1: Policy and program guidelines should be developed by DEET which seek to address the employment and training needs of homeless young people.

The operation of DEET labour market programs rarely take into account the housing needs of homeless young people. While homeless young people nominally form part of the SkillShare Target Group without a concerted effort to consider their needs, the reality is that they are not participating in it. Even SkillShare Special Projects for Disadvantaged Youth lack the resources or the flexibility of program guidelines to be relevant to homeless young people.

2. Encouraging a community responseRecommendation 2; Established community groups working with homeless young people to develop a range of employment and training options for homeless young people should be supported by DEET through greater flexibility in SkillShare Funding Guidelines.

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As has been established in this report, the few examples of integrated and successful labour market programs for homeless young people have or are at risk of closing, because of the lack of flexibility in SkillShare funding groups. It is very important that these programs be supported, and that established community groups currently working with homeless young people should be enabled to develop a range of employment and training options for homeless young people.

3. Measuring successful outcomesRecommendation 3; The performance criteria of SkillShare projects working with homeless young people should be broadened beyond measuring (only) employment and training outcomes.

Achieving successful employment outcomes with homeless young people often takes some time and may require a considerable range of issues to be addressed.

Performance measures need to be measured by broader indicators than employment/training outcomes. If not all outcomes are given equal value, there will be more incentives to employers to take on disadvantaged people.

4. Linking housing and labour market programs Recommendation 4; SkillShare Special Projects working with disadvantaged young people should have a focus on working with homeless young people with an emphasis on outreach work to link emergency and other housing providers with labour market programs.

Because of the gulf which currently separates housing and labour market programs, a concerted effort will be needed to build practice links between them. This will require outreach work.

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5. Exclusion from traineeshipsRecommendation 5; A percentage of traineeships in the public sector should be set aside for homeless young people and integrated access programs should be developed to link them to these jobs.

At least 15 per cent of traineeships are supposedly set aside for disadvantaged young people. Homeless young people currently have virtually no access to them. For this to occur they will need to be targetted, and traineeship access bridging programs be established to link them in to these.

6. Lack of income supportRecommendation 6; A homeless young person's training allowance should be increased to bring their benefit at least up to the level of adult unemployment benefit for those participating in labour market programs.

Given the immediacy of their material and other needs, it should be of little surprise that homeless young people currently have little interest in unpaid training programs not linked to job outcomes. Even the Formal Training Allowance is denied to them until they reach the age of 21. An adequate training allowance would both relieve the extent of homeless young people's immediate poverty and thus allow them to participate in training programs and provide some incentive for them to do so.

7. Lack of accommodation optionsRecommendation 8; Community groups currently being funded for either housing or SkillShare programs should be encouraged to consider establishing a complementary labour market or housing program, or joining with other groups which do so.

It has been well established that the accommodation needs of homeless young people vary considerably and that a range of options are needed. It has also been well established that many of these can only be effectively developed from a community

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base. Similarly, effective SkillShare programs need a strong community base. Given how hard it can be to build this community base, it seems wasteful to prevent community groups managing both housing programs (for example, a youth housing program) and SkillShare programs. If this was encouraged, better resourced and integrated programs with stronger community links could be expected to emerge.

9. Lack of employment optionsRecommendation 3; Community groups working with homeless young people should be funded to develop small employment generation initiatives for their homeless clients.

Some community groups working with homeless young people have in the past successfully established job generation programs to provide mainly casual work to their clients. Funding for these

tprograms is no longer available and this has further excluded homeless young people.

\10. Paid work experienceRecommendation 10; A certain percentage of paid work experience placements should be set aside for homeless young people and these be linked to integrated access programs which seek also to meet their accommodation and other needs.

Paid work experience (such as Jobstart) offers a number of advantages for disadvantaged young people. However, if homeless young people are not to be excluded from this type of labour market program also, a certain number of placements will need to be set aside for them and special consideration given to their needs.

11. Developing the capacity to meet accommodation and other needs

Recommendation 11; SkillShare projects working with homeless young people should be provided with sufficient flexible resources to develop some capacity to meet other needs. Working

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with homeless youth should be a focus of SkillShare staff development workshops.

SkillShare projects working with homeless young people must have the capacity to address other needs. This will require resources. It will also require staff development and training to ensure that staff understand the needs of this client group and do not act to (unintentionally) exclude them.

i

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BIBLIOGRAPHYAmato, P R (1987) Children in Australian families; the growth

of competence, Prentice Hall, Sydney, NSW.-- (1985) "Growing pains", Australian Society, vol.4, pp.10.Blakers, C (1984) "The effect of unemployment: a summary of the

research, Youth Studies Bulletin, vol.3(4), pp.71-101.-- (1990) Youth and society; the two transitions, Australian

Council for Educational Research.Botvin, G (1988) "Defining 'success' in drug abuse prevention",

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