CHILDREN as young as 11 are among hundreds of homeless youths being turned away from crisis accommodation in the Hunter.
One Newcastle service provider received 666 referrals last financial year. Almost one third were turned away because of a lack of vacancies.
The majority of referrals involved young people aged between 15 and 18 but 16per cent involved 10- to 14-year-olds, with one case worker saying she knew of an 11-year-old who could not be accommodated.
They were seeking refuge accommodation due to problems ranging from domestic violence and neglect to parental drug and alcohol abuse, family conflict and breakdown, crime and parents on the move.
Hunter youth workers say the full extent of youth homelessness is not well known because many young people stay with friends or ‘‘couch surf’’ rather than sleep rough.
Those forced to spend nights on the street take shelter in parks, public and abandoned buildings, under bridges and in bush.
Carrie Brock, a Samaritans Foundation Youth Direct case worker, said many young people turned to friends and extended family, and bounced back and forth between them, or ended up in unsafe situations and unhealthy relationships with older adults, without identifying as homeless.
‘‘It’s huge but it’s not obvious,’’ she said.
‘‘Lots of young people sleep on trains, they just go back and forth on the train line and couch surf so although you don’t see it so overtly, like people sleeping on park benches, and that does happen, there’s a lot that is not so obvious.’’
Another youth worker, Carlie Lowe, said often the first time homeless young people were picked up by the system was when they turned to Centrelink for assistance.
‘‘When they are 16 and over there are organisations that can help transition them into independent care but the crisis refuges are so full,’’ she said.
There are just three crisis accommodation centres in the Hunter – in Newcastle, Maitland and Redhead – with six to eight beds in each.
The Samaritans’ Newcastle youth development officer, Julia Woods, said referral services struggled to meet young people’s needs and were sometimes forced to offer tents to kids to camp in caravan parks if they were under 16.
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