Homeless Sunshine Coast youth will get a roof over their heads and expert support to help them build successful lives, after the formal opening of ‘The Old Church’ accommodation at Nambour.
The Integrated Youth and Family Service (IFYS) refurbished the former meetinghouse complex of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in response to inadequate accommodation options across the region for young people trying to transition away from homelessness.
The Old Church includes 21 rooms for youth, each with a full bathroom ensuite, split-system air-conditioner, new paint and carpet, and a window.
IFYS operates a six-bed crisis facility for young people in need on the Sunshine Coast, and a further five beds in Caboolture, so The Old Church dramatically increases the available support to those in need.
“In bringing back the church, we will offer 21 safe and secure beds to young people aged 16 to 24 across the Sunshine Coast,” IFYS Managing Director Tony Pignata told guests at the formal opening.
“The Old Church is an integrated model that combined biological, cultural, economic, physiological and social factors. It cuts across a number of disciplines and ensures young people are not only being protected from the elements, but they are offered holistic support and care to ensure that we move them from homelessness to a position of being educated or employed, a significant protective factor in anyone’s life.
“The model will be supported 24/7 by staff, and will have a focus on education and employment and social interactions for those young people.
“They may stay for as brief a period as three months or perhaps two years until they can stablish themselves in housing and some independent life skills, which to you and I might be incredible, but it’ll be things like washing their sheets, washing their clothes, having some idea of nutrition and to be able to cook for themselves.”
The facility and support program aims to help young people to build careers and to ultimately transition to their own accommodation. It was formally opened on June 29 by Member for Fairfax Ted O’Brien MP.
Mr O’Brien had announced $790,834 in Australian Government funding for the project in April 2022, to provide support for residents with a particular focus on ‘learning and earning’ activities to strengthen a young person’s employment options.
“Many people came to this very facility over the years to offer prayers, and, in the future, young people will come to this same facility to have their prayers answered, and I think that’s pretty special,” Mr O’Brien said at the opening.
Mr Pignata noted the high levels of homelessness among youth on the Sunshine Coast, adding that a a safe and caring environment is vital to help young people live and build better lives and become active and functioning members of our community.
“We know that if you don’t have a safe place to sleep, you can’t address education issues, you can’t address mental health, you can’t address physical health – it’s just not possible,” he explained.
“We know there are many reasons why children and young people experience homelessness – mental health, substance abuse, domestic violence at home, and sometime it’s simply a financial matter
“Most adults and community members would be horrified to imagine a child or a young person sleeping rough in a park at night. Youth homelessness is often hidden, unfortunately, with young people couch surfing and sleeping rough in well-known hot spots across the coast.
“Research by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare put young people in 2019-20 at 42,400 who reached out during the course of that year to homelessness services across Australia. That’s just extraordinary. On the Sunshine Coast, although the numbers are grossly underrepresented, we think there’s about 2000 people experiencing homelessness and of that cohort, about 800 are aged under 25, significantly over-represented.
“A young person living in this style of accommodation knows they have a safe place for up to two years, and that can really propel them on to do incredible things when it comes to learning or earning; they could complete all sorts of certificates inside of two years, they could be almost finished a second-year apprenticeship, just to name a few items that are possible.
“The idea beyond that is to work with them to gain greater independence by moving into their own accommodation. The Old Church will provide them a very stable base to address all these aspects of their lives.
“As a service, IFYS has spent many decades caring for the underprivileged, the hurt, the disengaged. Their work could not be possible without the support of our community, and The Old Church today is a living example of what is possible when a community pulls together.”
The former church has received a full electrical system upgrade, additional and improved plumbing, an upgraded fire system, centrally-controlled air-conditioning, and modern electronic access (PIN, card or phone) to the rooms and other spaces.
To learn more about the Integrated Family and Youth Service, visit: ifys.com.au/
