Disturbing new youth homelessness data highlights urgency for action

Drawing from lived experience, evidence-based models and data, a coalition of young people, frontline service providers and peak bodies, the Ending Child and Youth Homelessness Coalition, have developed five actions aimed to help give every child and young person a safe place to call home.

Across WA, too many children and young people are facing homelessness without a parent or guardian to support them.

New data taken from one night - August 20, 2026 - showed that 114 unaccompanied young people were recorded as sleeping rough in Perth and Rockingham, yet there was nowhere for them to go, with zero youth accommodation beds available.

New data released on Monday, October 5, also found that over six months between January and June 2026, 19 youth accommodation services recorded 2,653 occasions where they were unable to provide a young person with accommodation because, in many instances, there were no beds available.

That means around 15 times a day a young person’s request for a safe place to sleep goes unmet.

The Ending Child and Youth Homelessness Coalition believes WA can do better. The 2027-28 State Budget is an opportunity to start building a system that prevents homelessness wherever possible, responds quickly when it happens and helps young people find a safe and stable home.

Representatives from the Ending Child and Youth Homelessness Coalition - which includes not-for-profits and peak bodies Vinnies WA, Youth Advisory Council of WA, Mission Australia WA, Indigo Junction, Shelter WA, Perth Inner City Youth Service, Anglicare WA and WACOSS - stood alongside frontline youth workers across the sector to officially launch their 2027-28 Pre-Budget Submission at Parliament House this month. 

Addressing the media, representatives called for more urgent action from the State Government to address the growing youth homelessness crisis by investing in key priorities laid out in the Coalition's second Pre Budget Submission.

Among those who spoke to the media included Aimee Robinson, Coordinator at Vinnies' Passages Youth Engagement Hub in Perth. 

Having seen the flow on effects of being forced to turn away young people who are desperate for help, Aimee gave a heart-breaking account of what her team of youth workers face each day. 

"Day in and day out, our team see young people who have slipped through the cracks, where systems have failed to step in, prevent or intervene early enough in their lives, and now they’re rough sleeping and couch-surfing, often in extremely unsafe and unstable situations," she said.

“It’s also often devastating for our team, especially when we see an unaccompanied child who is particularly vulnerable, knowing that even though we did everything in our power to find them somewhere safe to stay, they’re still going to sleep on the streets that night,” she said.

“We can only hope that when we come back the next day, they are unscathed by that experience. But we know that’s not true."

The Coalition's overarching message to the public is this:

"The WA Government has the opportunity to make child and youth homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring. And that starts by considering more targeted investments in early intervention, prevention and evidence-based models to tackle youth homelessness in the next state budget.”

Read the article on WA Today here. 

Read the 2027-28 Pre Budget Submission here.