The largest ever collaboration to end homeless youth – Property, Media and Youth Homelessness sector unite to spark national conversation about youth homelessness.
With 43,000 children and young people not having a safe place to sleep and with 1 in 2 of them turned away due to capacity it’s time for Australia to unite and say ‘ it’s not good enough”
Three major sectors have come together to collaborate to spark a national conversation about youth homelessness. The Property Industry Foundation, a youth homelessness charity, is working with UnLtd, a media charity, and the NSW peak body for youth homelessness, Yfoundations, to supercharge the Youth Homelessness Matters Day campaign on 16 April.
Youth Homelessness Matters Day has been running as a campaign for more than ten years, but with the support of the property industry and the media industry, this year’s campaign will be bigger than ever is and is set to get Australians talking about the national shame of youth homelessness.
“Every night there are more than 40,000 young people that do not have a safe and secure place to sleep,” says Kate Mills, CEO of the Property Industry Foundation. “One-third of young people and children asking for help are First Nations and one in two that ask for help are turned away because of a lack of accommodation.”
This year UnLtd is bringing the power of the media industry to super charge the campaign. The world-leading creative agency Ogilvy is creating the campaign and PHD Media has worked with the broader industry to get significant commitments to support the campaign. Together, organisations have committed $3 million worth of pro bono work to the campaign.
Jade Harley, Director of Impact at UnLtd said, “The media industry is incredibly powerful, with the unique ability to tell stories that matter and to change hearts and minds.
“This is an issue that every Australian should be aware of, and we are committed to ensuring it becomes part of the national conversation. Our partners at Ogilvy and PHD have blown us all away with their passion, care and dedication to this collaboration and we can’t wait to share the national campaign with everyone when it launches in June.”
The combination of the three sectors working together to change the outcomes for homeless youth is unprecedented. “Most sectors work in silos and it’s rare to get the commitment from different sectors to work together,” says Mills.
“However, from the moment we approached Yfoundations and UnLtd about this opportunity to be involved in life-changing work, they have been nothing but supportive.”
Yfoundations CEO John Macmillan said, “We know what needs to happen to make change for children and young people experiencing homelessness. We need collaboration and need the community to recognise this is everyone’s issue, much like we have with the property/building, media, marketing, and creative industries. It’s time to plan for and adequately fund solutions to youth homelessness.”
The campaign takes part in two parts. On April 16 is the actual Youth Homelessness Matters Day where all youth homelessness charities will support the campaign to raise awareness and raise funds.
Additionally, sign a petition for governments to commit to a separate children and young people housing and homelessness plan, as well as to ask people to donate an hour of pay to their favourite youth homelessness charity on the day. Later in the year a story-telling campaign will be run across Australia to educate people about youth homelessness and create a platform for real change.