Its been raining in Brisbane, We came across seven young people yesterday morning, all between the ages of about 16 and 25 sleeping rough at the church. Most nights there are people sleeping under the awainings on the concrete, generally one or two, mostly in their mid 30's or older. Other than a feed of 'hot noodles' and unlock the toilets so those who need can relieve themselves, there's not much we can do, tell them to come on Monday when there will be more resources available to them.

The alarming thing is the growing number of homeless young people we are encountering these days. The following link from the AIHW (Commonwealth Government) gives a good account of the plight of homeless youth in Australia. Unfortunate the situation is getting rapidly worse, and there seems no relief in sight. What can be done to mitigate this crises? The wet weather has set in this morning, I wonder where those young folk are now.

BTW; five coppers, yes five uniformed coppers, turned up later with a couple of social workers, looking for one fella who sleeps there regularly, he hasn't been seen for more than a week. We couldn't help them with his whereabouts, he could be anywhere.

http://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/children-youth/homelessness-and-overcrowding

Dear Paul,

We keep hearing about the situation of homelessness
in Australia. And I realize that there are a variety
of reasons for it, and it is complicated. However,
regarding young people? How about the government taking
a stand and encouraging these young people to work for
any welfare payments? We have a shortage of labour in
many areas, from farmers needing help, to other areas
needing workers. Wouldn't it be more useful to give
these kids a purpose in life instead of waiting for
hand-outs from strangers? They need a reason to get up in
the morning. Would putting them to work be such a bad idea?

Dear Foxy,

With respect how would that address their homelessness?

Hi Foxy and Steele,

I have to say the problems are greater than not having a job, or not willing to work. That is the manifestation of the problem, but I do believe it's not the problem as such. It would be difficult for anyone to employ these kids as they are uneducated and lacking in social skills, I know little of their family history, but I take its not the greatest, and they have onboard issues of all kinds, with anger quickly coming to the fore. Incidentally two of the seven were druggies, the other five, drink and would do casual drugs, I'm sure. Talk to them calmly and reasonably, they tend to respond fairly well. Once asked, they cleaned up and by nine o'clock packed their belonging into a shopping trolley and moved on for the day, seen them later in the shopping centre where they spend a fair bit of their day, meeting up with the same.

Dear Steele,

I'm not sure how it would affect their homelessness. I guess
I was thinking rather narrowly - in that if they were given
some sort of purpose - or activity to get involved in, then
perhaps it may give them a greater self-worth and willingness
to try other things to improve their lot in general. Especially
if they felt that their were valued for the work they were doing.
It may increase their self-esteem.

I'm just grabbing at straws here. Especially if they were to
form friendships with say - farmers, where they were very valued
for the work they did?

Decades ago - my older brother ran away from home with
a friend and they ended up on a ranch way out the back of
beyond. The farmer fed them and taught them farming.
My brother ended up loving it and stayed for a year. Dad fianlly
found my brother and brought him home. My brother agreed to
finish his high school certificate "for you dad," which dad
accepted. I wish I had a happy ending to this story.

This brother ended up being a "rover" all of his life. It broke
dad's heart - but at least dad got him to finish high school.
(for dad). Funny though - this guy always ended up landing on his
feet - no matter the messes he got himself into. Go figure.
I worked hard all of my life - and many times ended up bailing
this guy out. But I guess that's life.