The Samaritans Foundation’s Newcastle youth development officer, Julia Woods, said youths often fell through the cracks if they had serious acute drug and alcohol problems, or a violent history, because they could not be accommodated at the crisis refuges.

‘‘There are lots of unregulated boarding houses, some are done well and others very poorly,’’ Ms Woods said.

‘‘But we refer people all the time because it’s safer than being in the street or hooking up with someone older to share a bed for the night, which is what a lot of the girls do.’’

Newcastle Youth Accommodation Services case work manager Patsy Browne said of the referrals made to her service, up to 45per cent could not be accepted into crisis care because the clients had a violent history, behavioural issues, mental health issues, drug or alcohol issues, an infectious disease, or they could not provide enough information for assessment.

Young people could also be rejected if they were not considered ‘‘in crisis’’ or were not within the target age or area, she said.

‘‘There’s not enough accommodation, there’s not enough supports to assist the people who are in accommodation, and there’s no drug and alcohol rehabilitative services in this city for under the age of 18,’’ Ms Browne said.

There was also a lack of resources for the youngest cohort, clients aged between 10 and 14, who could often only be referred to the Department of Community and Family Services.

‘‘The youngest I have seen is 11,’’ she said.

‘‘We don’t tend to keep them for very long because we don’t have anywhere for them to go so we try to make [the department] responsible.

‘‘They might have been in foster care for most of their life and they have broken down or they have got to that stage where the family has no supports in place to help them. They could have severe behaviour problems.

‘‘We are seeing much more young people on medication. Maybe 10 years ago there was a lot of ADHD and now it’s depression.

‘‘Sometimes we offer them support to help them stay where they are. There’s just not enough beds at the end of the day. Everyone is tapped out so far as resources go, that’s everybody’s cry.’’