Hitting a brick wall: Covid has thrown up roadblocks for all of us, but none so much as the homeless. Renata Gortan talks to the charities helping society’s most disadvantaged.
Taldumande Youth Services in North Sydney has found that young people are suffering from lockdown limbo. Senior case manager Samantha Rosewarne believes Covid is exacerbating the already complex needs of teens who are trying to establish a new path in life.
“They’re working towards goals to make changes in their lives but they’re coming up against all these barriers – they can’t get employment and face-to-face education has closed down."
Samantha Rosewarne
Senior Case Manager | Taldumande Youth Services
“It’s hard to be compliant when there’s so much restlessness and uncertainty,” she says. “One of the biggest protective factors for young people is engaging face-to-face with schooling or peers. They can’t now. “We’ve seen a 101 per cent increase in mental health issues since the start of lockdown. After the first protest (against) lockdown, two of our young people had horrible panic attacks; they’d lost their jobs and were worried about what that looks like for them in terms of future job security. They can see what’s happening now is affecting their future.”
For young people who are couchsurfing, it’s especially difficult. A place to sleep at night isn’t the same thing as a home.
“There’s just not many options for them at the moment,” Rosewarne says. “If they are staying on couches, sometimes they can’t stay there during the day and may have to break those lockdown rules because there’s nowhere else for them to go. It’s someone else’s house and that’s hard. We are seeing that it’s challenging, because we’re not getting much movement in our refuges.”
Taldumande has refuges and transitional properties, with the aim of progressing young people to independent living. Those in transitional properties are unable to progress to their own place because they can’t find employment, which means the entire chain is stuck.
“We’re at full capacity with crisis accommodation, semi-independent and transitional housing. It’s a byproduct of people not being able to move,” Rosewarne says. “They can’t move but they want to, and that’s why we’re seeing that increase in mental health issues.
Think about us as adults navigating lockdown; it’s hard for us and even more challenging for them.”
To read the full Mosman Daily article please CLICK HERE
Please support us by donating to our cause today
Many of our programs fall outside government funding, which means we rely on money raised from individuals and organisations to continue our vital work.
Donate