546 young people were turned away because there was no bed

They are not statistics. They are 15, 16, 17 year olds, nearly half of those supported at Djinda in its first year were 17, not yet adults, who found themselves with nowhere safe to go through no fault of their own.

Some had fled family violence. Some had aged out of the care system with no safety net to fall back on. Some were dealing with mental health crises that had made staying at home impossible. Some had simply been let down, quietly and completely, by systems that should have caught them.

As Liz described them: “15 unique, beautiful young people who found themselves here through no fault of their own. Not because of bad choices, not because of bad character, but because life had not been fair to them.”

To walk through the doors of a crisis service at 16 and ask for help takes courage most of us will never need to find. And 546 times last year, young people who found that courage were told there was no room.

What happens to a young person who is turned away?

This is the question that haunts everyone who works in this space.

Some will find a couch to sleep on – temporarily, and often in situations that aren’t safe. Some will return to the home or situation they were trying to escape. Some will sleep rough. Some will drift further from the support systems that could help them, becoming harder and harder to reach.

Youth homelessness compounds. Every night without stability makes the next step harder. Every week without support makes the path back longer. The window to intervene in a young person’s life is real, and when it closes, the consequences can last for decades.

At Youth Futures, we continue to expand our services in response to this growing need.

Djinda opened its doors on 5 May 2025, providing 24/7 supported accommodation for up to six young people at a time, with a dedicated Case Worker and Day Youth Worker. In its first year, the team provided 2,113 bed nights of safety, warmth, and genuine support. Young people who arrived guarded and frightened gradually opened up, built routines, reconnected with education, and began to imagine a future. Scott, who arrived at 17 carrying a lifetime of trauma, says it simply now: “I feel safe.”

Alongside Djinda, Youth Futures operates TINOCA, TAP North and TAP South, and Brentwood – a network of crisis and transitional accommodation, outreach, and case management programs designed to meet young people wherever they are in their journey toward stability.

But as Liz said plainly: “This is not a failure of our team or of Youth Futures. It is a measure of the scale of the need in our community, and the urgent call for continued investment in services like this one.”

What needs to change?

More beds. More funding. More community understanding that youth homelessness is not a fringe issue, it is happening right now, in our suburbs, to young people who deserve better.

Young people make up nearly a quarter of Australia’s homeless population. In WA, demand for crisis accommodation continues to grow faster than the available services can keep up with. The gap between need and capacity is not shrinking. It is widening.

Liz closed her speech with these words: “I choose to work with young people because I have hope. I hope that every young person we support has a bright future ahead, one that is safer and more joyful than the moment that brought them to our door.”

That hope is shared by everyone at Youth Futures. But hope alone is not enough. It needs to be backed by investment, by policy, and by a community that refuses to accept that 546 young people being turned away from a crisis bed is simply the way things are.

It doesn’t have to be.

If you are a business, foundation, or individual who wants to invest in expanding crisis accommodation for young people in WA, we would love to hear from you.

If you are a young person who needs support right now, please reach out. You don’t have to have it figured out. You just have to make the call.