WORKING out how much crisis accommodation a community needs is no easy job.
The most obvious problem is that, up to a point, any amount of accommodation will be filled as the definition of crisis and other selection criteria relax to ensure the available supply is used.
But even taking that into account, the Hunter Region appears to have a shortage of facilities for young people made homeless by family and other problems.
Organisations that provide services to these young people all report being overwhelmed by demand from people suffering the worst of crises and all report turning away large numbers of applicants because of a chronic shortage of shelter.
The blunt admission that some services have at times actually provided young people with tents and directed them to caravan parks is as clear a sign of the scale of the problem as anybody could wish to see.
It is perhaps not surprising that so many young people in this region apply for emergency accommodation. Parts of the region are well above average in measures of welfare-dependency and well below average in other measures such as education, employment and income.
The Hunter experiences relatively high rates of drug and alcohol addiction and in some areas rates of crime are also higher than most other parts of the state.
These factors lead to a second and more intractable aspect of the youth accommodation problem. Because most crisis shelters specifically exclude people with histories of crime, drug addiction, mental illness and infectious disease, some of the most damaged and needy young people are the least likely to receive help.
Relatively few of those people turned away from crisis accommodation end up sleeping rough, with most apparently managing to find short-term help from friends and relations. Some might say that’s a heartening sign of a functioning community, but it’s hardly ideal for vulnerable young people to be placed in positions of such obligation at times of severe personal hardship.
Lack of money is the most probable reason why the region’s crisis accommodation shortage is so severe. But those administering the budgets should recognise that scrimping in this area is a false economy. Leaving people in crisis with their problems unaddressed will often lead to far greater costs for the affected individuals and the wider community.
Power uncertainty
THE way conditions are shaping up for the aluminium industry, even a guaranteed low long-term power price may not save Kurri Kurri’s smelter and the jobs it provides. But the continued lack of certainty must weigh as heavily on the plant’s prospects as the high dollar and patchy global demand.
Before its election victory the Coalition punished Labor remorselessly for its decision to block contract negotiations between the smelter and the soon-to-be-sold Delta Electricity.
Trouble is, since it came to power, Barry O’Farrell’s government has appeared to do little to bring to an end the uncertainty it railed against in opposition.
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