Little progress is being made on youth homelessness in NSW, with more than 1000 unaccompanied children seeking crisis accommodation in the past 12 months and fewer than half receiving it.
In a report tabled in state parliament on Monday, Ombudsman Paul Miller found of the 2379 children who presented to homelessness services in 2021-22, 1072 needed accommodation but only 483 secured it.
The report, which assessed Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) work, found no decline in three years in the number of children aged 12 to 15 trying to find shelter.
Indigenous children remained “highly over-represented”.
It comes amid a surge in the number of Australians needing emergency accommodation, with governments being urged to help cut homeless rates.
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The ombudsman was particularly critical of the department for a “paucity” of official information on children who showed up alone to the state’s homelessness services in 2021-22.
“DCJ is not collecting the necessary evidence to show whether the policy is working as intended,” the report stated.
“This lack of outcomes evidence reflects a broader and longstanding gap in what is known about unaccompanied homeless children, about their needs and what happens to them.
“Five years after we first reported on this issue, DCJ is still not in a position to report on outcomes for the children.”
It said the little that is known, does not instil confidence that the improved policy documentation is achieving significant practical improvements.
Mr Miller pointed out the lack of reliable DCJ data on children under 12 seeking emergency accommodation.
“We don’t know if that is a problem, and if so, how big of a problem,” he said in a statement.
“In our assessment, there are outstanding actions needed to improve the response to children who present alone to homelessness services.
Homelessness Minister Rose Jackson said the government would review the report, describing many of its findings as “disappointing and frankly unacceptable”.
“We cannot normalise having thousands of young, vulnerable people seeking out specialist homeless services without knowing who, if anyone, is taking care of them,” Ms Jackson told AAP.
“We recognise that we need to do better and part of that commitment is to provide more transparency and accountability.”
It was clear “more work needs to be done” to support young people in vulnerable situations, she said.
Homelessness NSW chief executive Trina Jones said the “shocking figures” showed the government was failing its duty of care to young people.
“Homelessness services have been stepping up to provide them with a safe home or reconnect them with family, all without the appropriate funding to provide this safety net,” Ms Jones said in a statement.
The ombudsman’s previous reports, in 2018 and 2020, drew attention to several critical legal, policy and service gaps in state response to homeless children.
DCJ has been contacted for comment.
