What if someone you loved was without a home tonight?

There are at least 9,700 Western Australians who are currently experiencing homelessness, 3,500 of those are under the age of 25.

Read that again.

If you grew up in a loving, stable family environment it can be hard to imagine how someone could possibly find themselves with nowhere to sleep tonight. But unfortunately, that is the reality right now.

The reasons why a young person can find themselves without a safe home can be varied and complex.

Some young people are no longer safe in their family home due to family and domestic violence or sexual abuse. Sometimes conflict in the home becomes too much, caused by mental health or substance abuse issues, (which could be from any member of the household). Conflict can come from LGBTQI rejection, or even the severe financial strain that many households are under every day right now due to cost-of-living pressures.

Sam* is 18 and was in her first year of studying a double law degree at university when she found herself without a safe place to come home to. After library staff found her sleeping in the university library on several occasions, they reached out to Anglicare WA’s Street Connect Youth Workers for help.

Sam shared with the workers that there was a history of family and domestic violence in her family home, as well as financial control by her father. She constantly felt on edge, unsafe and with no access to funds to find secure living arrangements of her own. Even with no access to money, she had to make the difficult call to leave home for her own safety.

Sleeping in the university library was the only place she felt remotely safe and could stay out of the weather as the winter got colder.

Our Street Connect Youth Workers were able to provide immediate assistance to Sam, which included meal vouchers, and temporary membership to the uni gym for her to shower. They advocated on her behalf to her teachers to negotiate extensions on assignment deadlines so she could maintain her enrolment. The Youth Worker was also able to secure crisis accommodation for her, and to create a safety plan so she could retrieve some personal items from the family home while the father wasn’t there.

The Street Connect team became the people Sam trusted and looked to for advice and support when she felt she had no one to turn to.

Sam’s youth worker was able to assist with her application for government financial aid and helped with securing 12 months of transitional housing.

Having somewhere of her own that was safe, allowed Sam to focus on her studies and her goal of becoming a lawyer. She secured casual work as a tutor at the university as well, helping other students with their studies.

Later on, she shared with her youth worker that having the space apart from the family home, along with having control over her own financial situation for the first time has given her a chance to start to repair the relationship with her family.

“I used to feel like I had no one to turn to, but now I have people on my side who I can trust, and I know have my best interests at heart.”

Sam is just one story from young people in Western Australia who are homeless or at risk of homelessness tonight.

Young people who have “couch surfed” until their calls for help stop being answered, and their friends turn away.

Young people who are forced to sleep in their cars on cold nights because they have nowhere else to go.

Young people who make the difficult call between staying in a house where they feel unsafe or being out on the street alone.

I believe that everyone should have the chance to thrive. These young people are not being given that opportunity.

I know you want to help people like Sam.

Your gift to the Anglicare WA Winter Appeal will help young people at risk of homelessness, or already sleeping rough.

Your gift is keeping the lights on for services like Street Connect or providing housing and wrap around services like Foyer Oxford.

Foyer Oxford has been providing stable and secure housing for young people at risk for over 10 years now, with almost 800 young people (including young parents and their children) receiving support, education and training as well as assistance with finding work.

That’s 800 lives changed forever.

Your gift today can help provide emergency food vouchers, or a taxi fare to help a young person get to important medical treatments.

There are thousands of young people who are making the cold call today to decide if they can afford a hot meal, a room in a hostel, or even just a new pair of warm shoes.

*Sam’s story is real, but her name and other details has been changed to protect her privacy.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Glasson

Anglicare WA CEO

CLICK HERE / DONATE TODAY

PS: A small gift of $25 could mean the difference between someone feeling safe and warm tonight, and someone left out in the cold. Will you help us this winter?