Housing and homelessness services

- [Wayne] I've really had a rough childhood.

- I had been to 14 different schools.
It was really hard, like it's not easy
being homeless at 15.

- I was studying at the time,
and it was hard not having a place to stay.
I honestly didn't care where I stayed
as long as I got a roof on top of my head.

- I came to Australia age 15 as asylum seeker.
I don't have any family members in Australia,
so I was referred to Youth Foyer.

- Youth Foyer's a form of housing for young people.
They're usually for young people
who've had an experience of homelessness.
I think lots of young people, when they're homeless,
one of the greatest fears is
where am I gonna go to tomorrow.

- Youth Foyers fill a gap.
They fill a gap of vulnerability in the community.
They prevent young people from becoming homeless adults.
They help educate, upskill, and prepare young people
for real-world life experiences.

- Lots of young people find themselves
at risk of homelessness or homeless
for a whole range of reasons.

They've left home because of family and domestic violence.
Some young people are leaving the care of the state,
and at that point in time, they don't have a caring adult.
The importance of the Foyers is that you provide support
for young people in a way that's going to help them
around the tricky bits that people usually ask
their moms and dads about.

- We had researched the Foyer model, and we thought,
what a great model, we wanna do this.
This model builds resilience in young people,
provides them opportunities and safety through housing,
provides them the support and guidance
to transition through their young adulthood
and into full independence at the end.

Now, I've been doing that model for 10 years.
I've been able to watch young people go
from street sleeping all the way into home ownership.

- [Maria] There are staff onsite at the Foyers 24/7.

- Young people of Foyer actually enter into
a formal rental lease agreement.
This means that they must pay bond,
they must pay rent, and they must stay in advance of rent.
What I actually see from young people
who come into this programme is that they're fully committed
and want to engage in earning and learning,

that they do wanna look after their unit, and they do care
about what their neighbours think about them,
that they do respond when you give them feedback,
and that they actually do wanna
be involved in making the place better.

- I remember when I first got into the house
that I was living in, I was so excited.

- It makes me feel like I'm becoming an adult now these days
because it's changed me a lot.
They've turned me into a great man.

- I'm grateful for that because, you know,
we go down, talk to them, they help us out,
and it's like they're our second parents.

- [Imtiaz] I've done my Year 12 while being at Youth Foyer.
I work at Oxley Police Academy as a security guard.

- This place gives you, like,
the perfect pathways to make your life.

- [Wayne] It's a beautiful place, it's amazing.

- I was feeling really bad,
but now I feel great, I feel really blessed.

Hey so my name is Rolando Pisia.
I'm director of REKON Youth Outreach.

It's quite a unique experience for me to how much ownership
the young people in this space have taken in regards to the art piece being presented.
It's actually a culmination of ideas that the young people within the space have come together
and basically talked about some of their interests, some of their, you know, backgrounds and what they felt represented them.
I thought it was a really good, fun thing for us to do here.
And it also got all the people in the complex to kid of engage with each other and get to know each other a bit better.
I went to one of the meetings that was showing the design for it.
And then he came, told me about it and I was like, 'Yeah I'm keen."
- Yeah I love. I really love it. - It's really good.
- Gives it colour. - Yeah it inspires, it makes it more happy.

Originally the idea for the mural at the Logan Youth Foyer came out of the design consultation process.
Initially the young people were talking about a graffiti-type wall.
That idea was really embraced by the architects and they included an art installation piece as part of their design.
One of our artists from REKON who goes by the name of Big P... Big P...
And he was the person that conceptualised and was able to implement the ideas onto a vision board for the young people.
And we've also had Jess whose our local artist here based in Logan and we have the young people who've contributed as well.

My name's Jessica Skeen and I'm originally, our countries from North Queensland, the Kuku Alanji and the Biri.
What I have noticed when I have worked with young ones and with even these lot here is they're really reserved at the start.
But when they get hands on and they get that encouragement to be a part of it, it's just...
It's an empowerment that you see in them and it's a confidence that just comes about.
The mural makes me feel like it's more like home because whenever I walk to the office I'm always going to see it
and it just reminds me of my culture and makes me feel a lot more comfortable here.

It makes me feel connected to community you know.
Like art is very... I don't know the words for it but it's very unique, you know. For them to bring it here and collaborate
with us on what we want was good but I reckon it made me a bit more confident, like, getting to know people in these units.
So some of the things you're going to see in this artwork is some of the native animals that represent Australia.
We have a lot of Maori and Polynesian patterns as well and so again representing some of the Pacific Islanders within the space.
With our centrepiece, being a young man playing a didgeridoo, to have that as a centrepiece is like a celebration and a welcome to the residents in this area.
It helps them take ownership, it helps them bring about pride and a sense of belonging and that their voices matter.
And I think that's a really powerful thing we need to do as a community, like, our young people matter and they need to feel it.