By Abbey Cannan
Like many other regions, Noosa and the Sunshine Coast is facing extreme housing costs, and social housing shortages.
Every night in Australia 28,000 young people are homeless, and in the last decade this number has increased by 49 per cent.
Noosa is lucky enough to be the home of organisations doing amazing work to combat this issue, including Vinnies who are set to host their CEO Sleepout at Noosa Main Beach on Thursday 23 June; and YouTurn Youth Support who are getting ready to place their first two Tiny Homes on land in Tewantin.
Youturn Youth Support is an organisation that’s been around for 30 years, providing support to vulnerable young people in a range of domains including child safety, mental health, homelessness and suicide prevention.
While outside of the two new Tiny Homes, Youturn chief executive officer Dr Tanya Bell explained how they will be used to provide alternative affordable solutions for the housing crisis in Noosa.
“We know that there’s a national housing crisis at the moment,” she said.
“We know that there’s not enough supply of affordable housing, so these tiny homes offer a real tangible substitute to that crisis.
“At this stage we’ve got two tiny homes because we have land available to position two. The intention would be as we find more land to build more tiny homes. The idea is up to 10 in a particular location so we can really create a community for young people.”
Dr Bell said homelessness and the housing crisis was a complex issue that would require a complex solution to address it.
“So it’s not just the supply of infrastructure, but it’s also the support that goes around that, such as opportunities for employment, education, and looking after the mental health and well-being for young people, is all apart of that solution,” she said.
“The bricks and moulding is one part of it. It needs local government, state, and a federal agenda around a national housing strategy.”
Each year, the Vinnies CEO Sleepout calls on participants to spend the night sleeping rough on one of the coldest nights of the year to raise vital funds and awareness for homelessness support.
Rain, hail or shine, local leaders this year will be swapping their warm bed for the sand, as they brave the elements to sleep rough for the night in front of Noosa Heads Surf Lifesaving Club on Thursday 23 June.
Noosa Mayor Clare Stewart is one of many local leaders who have already signed up for the challenge, as well as Noosa Today team members Abbey Cannan and Simone Bell.
Vinnies’ Diocesan president Beryl Rowan said funds raised from the event would go directly towards building and providing homes for local families in need.
“There’s no secret that the Sunshine Coast has been significantly impacted by the state-wide housing crisis, with rental vacancy rates of less than half a per cent across the region,” Beryl said.
“The funds raised from this event will also help us to secure our own accommodation options to provide to local families struggling to find a place to live.”
In 2021, Vinnies supported Queenslanders by providing housing and crisis accommodation for more than 101,000 nights and supplying $258 million in services and support to people in need.
The Sunshine Coast Sleepout aims to raise $200,000 in support of locals experiencing homelessness.
Each donation can help end homelessness and provide vitally important services to the people in our community who need us most.
To help the Noosa Today team raise funds visit ceosleepout.org.au/fundraisers/abbeycannan/queensland
Donate now to help Youturn Youth Support build more Tiny Homes at youturn.org.au
