Youth housing service raises funding fears with ‘astronomical’ demand

She said young people also felt the brunt of a lack of social and affordable housing, with people under the age of 25 making up 42 per cent of the nation’s homeless but only 3 per cent of the social housing tenants.

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This was an even greater concern than staffing numbers. “Responding requires us to have access to appreciate safe housing that is appropriate for young people — and we don’t have that.”

In 2017, then-housing Mick de Brenni minister announced a $1.8 billion housing strategy, which included a pledge to build 4522 social homes by 2027, or 452 per year on average. Meanwhile, the waitlist for social housing has grown from 29,636 to 47,036, an increase of 58 per cent.

Budget papers from 2019-20 show the government…