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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 1 Hansard (12 December) . . Page.. 185 ..
MS TUCKER (continuing):
The amendment also reflects my belief that it is best to build on the work already done and my distress with the all too frequent lack of follow-up to committee and other community partnership work. So I have included in my amendment a request for a review of a number of reports and processes and the linkages between the different approaches, so that the government takes stock of services. This will build on the work already under way, checking for other gaps.
Crisis accommodation is one essential link in the range of services to help young people in difficulties. As the New South Wales Federation of Housing Associations put it, to help in understanding who needs crisis accommodation:
For those with acute or chronic problems the housing difficulties-
caused by low income, dependent children, unemployment or studying needs-
are overshadowed by personal difficulties. This is the group who are most likely to have faced family trauma or abuse and/or have health or drug problems. They are likely to be homeless and either living on the streets or with friends.
That is from the Youth Housing Task Force Report, page 13.
In addition to the issue of the location of emergency accommodation services and their fundamental job of providing shelter, there is a need to link in with medium and long-term accommodation and with services and support to deal with their other difficulties. I would like to emphasise that it is not simply personal difficulties; problems can only be personalised so far. We are dealing with social and structural problems, and blaming the victim is no solution.
In a crisis people, particularly young people, should not need to travel long distances or have any other barriers to getting help. While Canberra has a relatively small population, the city sprawls over a large distance. Marlow Cottage, run by the Richmond Fellowship, provides crisis accommodation in Kaleen for young people and has some specialisation in young people released from imprisonment and some young people escaping family abuse.
A long, and probably complicated, journey for people in crisis from Belconnen or Gungahlin to the inner north means that that service is not effectively available even when there are places there. Beyond the crisis, I know that some young people from Belconnen may end up in medium-term accommodation in Wanniassa, which is an even longer journey and disruptive.
However, the Tuggeranong Youth Service can also have problems finding crisis emergency accommodation close to home. Often refuges are full and there is a lack of space to stay for one or two nights. The locational gap is significant in Belconnen and Gungahlin, but I understand the department has been looking at ways to fill that gap.
Meanwhile, there are several other important reviews which would significantly lead to improved access to emergency accommodation across Canberra. The 1999-2000 youth housing task force working group on crisis to medium-term accommodation identified the continual demand, lack of transitional accommodation and long-term housing. They
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