In Australia, nearly 22,000 teenagers between the ages of 12 and 18 are homeless, according to the 2006 ABS census. The demand for practical support and accommodation services is high, which the National Youth Commission’s Australia’s Homeless Youth report highlighted in April.
Caretakers Cottage is one not-for-profit organisation that addresses this need, having helped over 6,000 homeless young people get their lives back on track.
“We initially opened to provide support to young people coming from the country to the city looking for employment, who were going to see the bright lights and come undone in one way or another,” Laurie Matthews, Executive Officer of Caretakers, tells SX.
The son of a Uniting Church minister in Paddington, Matthews launched a non-religious youth drop-in service in 1972, and fostered links with fellow church tenants like the Metropolitan Community Church.
In 1977, Matthews and his wife opened the Paddington-Woollahra Youth Service, later renamed Caretakers Cottage, and now located in Bondi.
Hope for the homeless
SX, Australia
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