Brisbane seeing a sudden influx of homeless teenagers sleeping on the streets - Polidicks

[QUOTE]There has been a sudden increase of young teens from the suburbs sleeping rough on Brisbane city streets, youth workers say. At any given time there are more than 100,000 people in Australia considered homeless, with a quarter of those aged under 18. Queensland is one of only two states which have not yet signed up to the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness. The $230 million pact is meant to give priority to frontline services helping women and children affected by domestic violence and youth. Social Services Minister Scott Morrison has previously urged all Labor states and territories to sign up. Brisbane Youth Service workers Jesse Nolan and Shannon Faulkner, who spend two nights a week on the streets trying to connect young people with services, say there has seen an influx of kids on Brisbane streets over the past few months. "We had about anywhere between 30 and 60 young guys from the outer suburbs coming in," Mr Nolan said. "And we found that this group of our young guys have stayed in the city a bit longer. "We don't want them to get stuck or entrenched in that circle of homelessness. "The youngest we've seen is 13." Mr Nolan said they are also dealing with more teenagers smoking ice. "Young people are going from not really using at all substances, to spending a couple of nights on the street and then starting to use ice," he said. Ms Faulkner said it is a habit that is sometimes encouraged by the older homeless teens. "They'll start feeding it to them, which is helping them make money, which is causing, I guess, the sort of generational stuff happening with the ice use." Ms Faulkner said the rising use of ice was making a difficult situation even harder. "We generally find while they're using it's pretty quiet, then the week after it's a nightmare".[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-07/increase-homeless-children-sleeping-rough-brisbane-streets/6600002[/url] I think I may know a few or so people who would be like this, can't remember the names but I used to talk to people who had troubled family lives and lived with people who could take care of them only to leave and not return for 2 days. It's really unfortunate.

There's quite a few homeless people in Brisbane to be honest, some of which are friends of mine. Most are in the city, under the riverside expressway or around places like North Quay & KG (King George Square). Yet a majority of the public look at them in vain, some even going so far to even spit or beat them (albeit most of the time, those people who do that are usually either heavily intoxicated, on substances or just have a bad mental state.) It's a shame that many here would rather walk past & avoid them rather than shelter a homeless person for one night, to at least let them shower & sleep safely. If it's only now that the media & the local government actually taking notice of the effects, then they're way behind on actually getting somewhere in solving this. In my opinion, if you are seen as homeless in this country, you are shunned day in, day out by nearly everyone. The worst part is, the public believes that we're doing enough to deal with it, along with token gesture "fundraisers" by some organisations that feature exorbitantly wealthy people sleeping in a sleeping bag in some showground, albeit guarded by security, access to hot food & showers. Which is far from being homeless is really about, how it affects people & how it ends up being an endless cycle to a point where they either die, end up in jail or in hospital, with very few actually managing to get themselves back on their feet with a roof over their head, money in hand & food on the table.

[QUOTE=shutter_eye5;48139484]It's a shame that many here would rather walk past & avoid them rather than shelter a homeless person for one night, to at least let them shower & sleep safely.[/QUOTE] I wouldn't trust a homeless methamphetamine addict in my house.

[QUOTE=Satansick;48139551]I wouldn't trust a homeless methamphetamine addict in my house.[/QUOTE] this, while I feel for the homeless in my city, especially during these colder seasons I'm not going to take any in unless I"m sure that half my shit isn't going to be missing in the morning. unfortunately a few bad eggs ruin the batch.

[QUOTE=Satansick;48139551]I wouldn't trust a homeless methamphetamine addict in my house.[/QUOTE] that's probably the only exception to be honest.

[QUOTE=Satansick;48139551]I wouldn't trust a homeless methamphetamine addict in my house.[/QUOTE] not all of them are like that tho, but unfortunately it's hard to trust anyone nowadays with not running rampant with the potential of someone breaking or looting your shit to fuel an addiction or because they're desperate for money And members of the public would most likely frown upon it because in some cases, people shelter homeless people and use them to solicit sex. Bothways, it's fucking terrible and it's a shame the government isn't doing much about it

[QUOTE=shutter_eye5;48139748]that's probably the only exception to be honest.[/QUOTE] I had a friend who became homeless, a woman ended up taking him in during a winters night and he decided to rape and rob her.

I haven't seen many homeless teens here (although I'm sure there's many). The most I see are older people sleeping in Fortitude Valley with all the loud music, I have no idea how they do it. Many times I walk past people I want to give money to, but how would you know if it's going to genuinely help them, or simply pay for their next hit of ice?

[QUOTE=Handsome Matt;48140099]Wait, your FRIEND raped and robbed her? Nice choice of friends?[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Vasili;48140012]I [B]had[/B] a friend who became homeless, a woman ended up taking him in during a winters night and he decided to rape and rob her.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Handsome Matt;48140099]Wait, your FRIEND raped and robbed her? Nice choice of friends?[/QUOTE] Because no one has ever been friends with someone who did something really horrible