Beyond Youth Homelessness - Tyson

In this episode of Beyond Homelessness: Conversations That Matter, Matt and Ethan sit down with Tyson to talk about his experience navigating homelessness after being asked to leave home at 18.

Tyson shares how quickly life changed when he had to begin navigating housing services, moving through crisis refuges while trying to maintain work and stability. He reflects on the reality that homelessness is rarely a choice, and how routines like employment became an anchor during a time when everything else felt uncertain.

Tyson also speaks about the role crisis refuges played in providing more than just a bed, offering access to essential resources, information and support that helped him begin rebuilding stability. His story highlights the importance of community, practical support and the small resources that can make a big difference when someone is trying to move forward.

Thank you for listening and for joining us as we continue working toward a future where youth homelessness does not exist.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

The Beyond Homelessness Podcast is brought to you by Project Youth, a community-based charity serving the young people of the Sutherland Shire and St. George area in Sydney, Australia. It is a series about young people, told by young people and produced by young people. By listening today, you have supported the training and employment pathways for young people who are involved in the production of the podcast. Project Youth seeks to create a future where youth homelessness does not exist. If you'd like to know more about the work of Project Youth, the stories of the young people we support, or find ways in which you can be involved, head to our website at projectyouth.org.au or follow us on social media.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Hello and welcome back to the Beyond Youth Homelessness Podcast. We're your host, Ethan and Matt, and today we're excited to be joined by an amazing young person to hear their story and experiences of the Crisis Refuge program. Tyson, welcome. How are you? Good, how are you? I'm not too bad, mate. I'm also joined by Matt. How are you, Matt?

SPEAKER_03 1:01

Here I am, yes. I'm good. I'm good. Still here, still here?

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Yep. Here we are. Um for many people they wouldn't know what Crisis Refuge is or who it's for and why they might live in one. Can you share a little bit with us about how you came to living in the uh Crisis Refuge?

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Yeah, so um when I was pretty much fresh 18, my mum had kicked me out. Um spent a couple of months with some friends and then their caseworker got me in touch with DCJ and they got me in touch with a Vinny's refuge down in Barrel. And fast forward now I'm here two refuges later. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:38

Yeah, wow. So I think can you tell us like just based on your experience, like what happens in a crisis refuge for those who maybe have never heard of it before?

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Um it's basically just like a regular house with heaps of not heaps, a couple of young people in there. Yeah. Um, and they all just get support and trying to build up a way to get like long-term accommodation.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Yeah, that's kind of the the main goal. Hey, like just get out of it. It's kind of a holding spot where you can kind of get your stuff together and wrap your head around, I guess. Yeah, exactly. What's what happens next? Yeah, nice. Thanks for that. So in a moment, Ty, we're gonna hear more about your story, the different aspects of your journey, the challenges you faced, the people you met, the lessons you've learnt. Um but before we get into that, just to get to know you a little bit, like what's something exciting that you're working on that you're doing at the moment?

SPEAKER_00 2:35

In general?

SPEAKER_03 2:36

Yeah, just in general.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Um trying to fix up my car. Recently got an XR6 Falcon.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

So um For those of you of us who don't know cars, I think I I literally just said to you when people ask me about my car, I say it's a white one. Yeah. That's all I know. It's got four wheels, which I'm thinking about.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Um and it's a bit bit crappy at the moment, so I'm just trying to make it nice.

SPEAKER_03 3:01

Give it time.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

And then make it powerful.

SPEAKER_03 3:03

Do you know what I love about this though? So Ethan Tyson and I have known each other for well, we were saying maybe a couple of years now.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

I'd say around two and a half.

SPEAKER_03 3:10

And I remember driving Tyson one day and him talking to me about oh, I'm gonna get a car one day and I'm gonna fix it up. And again, you were using big words that I didn't understand, like I don't know, turbo or engines or something.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

I love how the turbo is always the first thing.

SPEAKER_03 3:28

Well, I don't know, but I mean as someone who doesn't know cars, that's what I'm saying. But um, so yeah, I loved I love to hear that like you're there and you've got your car and you're fixing it up, and that was one of your dr one of your goals that you wanted to achieve. Yeah, definitely. Stoked to hear that you're doing it. Um, all right, so there's so much that we want to hear from you, Tyson, about your experience and insights as someone who's I guess had to navigate the system, particularly when it comes to crisis accommodation. So we've got a few questions we're gonna ask you. Yep. If you're ready, let's get started.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Let's go.

SPEAKER_03 4:04

So, question number one, and this is kind of a this is quite a broad question, Tyson, and and like you said, you've you know, as someone who's been in two refuges and and is now like living in a transitional housing program, you've had to navigate the system um when it comes to housing for a few years now. Yeah. Um, what are some of the lessons that you've taken away or some of the lessons that you've learned from as you've kind of experienced homelessness and had to navigate that system?

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Um, well, it's definitely not easy. Um I guess the main thing that kept me going through the whole thing was knowing that there is light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. Yeah. Um there's always support there, you just gotta know how to find it. And I guess obviously you can do it without help. Um, but it makes it a lot easier at the end of the day if you can reach out to someone and they can point you in the right direction. Yeah. Or if you've, you know, got access to internet, then just search up like you know, what are some of the things I can do and you might get pointed in the same direction that I did. Yeah. And it ends up working out.

SPEAKER_03 5:17

Yeah, absolutely. It's interesting. I remember when we were chatting um the other day, you were talking about I think I asked you something very similar and and your response was um, you know, I didn't have a choice. Yeah. Almost about this um preconceived notion that homelessness is is a choice, that people choose that avenue, but for you it very much wasn't that.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Yeah, no. Um so it was like April 2022, I was pretty much fresh 18. Um mum had found out I started smoking and she's got health problems. So she basically said, you know, you need a stop where you can get out. Yeah. And then before I could basically blink, I was living at my friend's house and that was not horrible, but it was a really uncomfortable place to be. Yeah. Um so I just put up with that for a while and then managed to get out of there. Mm-hmm. And then yeah, got linked up with DCJ and got pushed in the right direction. Yeah. Then I met St. Vincent's um and I got put into one of their refuges in barrel. Mm-hmm. And that's where all the support started coming in.

SPEAKER_03 6:20

Yeah, nice. I remember you kind of sharing about like during that that time before moving into a a refuge that um you kind of felt a s a lack of control over what was going on with you.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Yeah, um, life definitely took a big turn because I was used to, you know, living with my parents and de like dinners were cooked and lunches were packed for school or work and all that kind of stuff, and then all of a sudden, you know, there's no money there and nothing's done for you, and it's just a big change going from everything's getting done to you to having to grow up in such a short period of time. Yeah. The adjustment was really rough, and I guess that's where I lost all of my control.

SPEAKER_03 7:03

Yeah, absolutely. I think you know, you're not the first person to kind of say that that line about like that you had to grow up fast. Yeah. Um, and I think you're right, like everything became your responsibility overnight.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

I was always a very childish person and that had to get knocked off pretty quickly.

SPEAKER_03 7:23

Yeah, but that's hard, right? Like that's a that's a harsh lesson to learn.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

Like unfortunately, but I've definitely needed to happen some point down the track anyway. I'm kind of glad it happened when it did, because now I've got you know the rest of my life to bear child again, so it doesn't bother me heaps. Yeah. I still act like a child whenever I get the chance, so it's alright.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Can I just jump in as well? I just wanna obviously you a lot of moving around. Um you said you went down to barrel, which is a fair way from here.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Yeah, that was rough.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

And I I guess I uh I love to understand how or where your head was, what what were you thinking at the time, if you can remember um like what was the emotional and like impact for that? Like how did you handle all that? How like how have you come out to you said you saw the light at the end of the tunnel, which is always a good thing, but I think it's hard to see that. So what kept you going?

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Like what was Yeah, um honestly my job was kind of what I looked forward to because it was just an escape. Like, you know, like you you go to work and you go and you end up just becoming like a different person, sort of thing. It was more just well, work is gonna be kind of what pays like rent and all of that, so I'll hold on to that for as long as I can.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

I guess it's also a stability thing as well, like you know, coming to those routines, yeah. That's that's what I was about to say is kind of you you talk about not having stability, but that was the one thing in your life that was stable, yeah. And you kind of by the sounds of it, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but like that was the first thing that you kind of saw that was stable, so yeah, you enjoyed it because you knew that it was always gonna be there, nothing's gonna change, you knew exactly what you had to do, what time you had to be there, and I think that's so inspirational as as it is, is even through that you're excited to go to work where I mean I I don't want to speak for everybody, but that's a hard thing to even go to work when you've got all this going on the outside.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

So I mean everything else at that time was there wasn't really much going on, like yeah, it was tough, but there was nothing to do. Yeah. Sort of thing. Like it was just work and then go home and you know, sit at the refuge, kind of do nothing, and then whenever I had a chance, like do some support meetings and sign some forms to send off. Yeah. But work was pretty much my life for a long time. Yeah. Um, you know, like all of my mates basically lived with me because I made friends at the refuges, everyone else I lost contact with. So I didn't have to spend time going out or saving money to go out, everything was just right there. Yeah. And then work was like a two and a half hour train trip from that Bower Refuge.

SPEAKER_03 10:03

So it was so you had to be committed to get there. Yeah, it was.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

But that's that's what I'm saying, is it's incredible that you, you know, were willing to stick with that. That's like two hours, like it's crazy. I think 30 minutes is far sometimes to come to work. And um, but you're doing on public transport where you never know if it's gonna be good or bad, so it's just incredible.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

Well, that um workplace they did actually give me a lot a lot of support. They were always there, they paid for like hotels for me and stuff in the early days when I had nowhere to go. Um, so I did my best to stay committed to them. No matter what I had to do, I was there. Yeah. Like in the earlier days, um, when it first got really bad, I took a lot of sick days and I wasn't wasn't showing up.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

And then once they started showing me support, like you know, we're not giving up on you. I kind of showed the same thing back. Yeah. And then we just bounced off each other. I was there for like three years. Yeah, wow, that's um, and then recently we decided to just part ways because I didn't fit the role anymore. Yeah. But I still keep in touch with them and they keep in touch with me, so the support is always gonna be there from them. That made it a lot easier to get through just knowing, you know, I had something to look forward to. Yeah, well, that's really incredible.

SPEAKER_03 11:10

I think that you've also kind of touched on something that I'd imagine many people don't realise, but when you're navigating, I guess, uh the services that provide accommodation like crisis refuges, you really do have to kind of go where the bed is. Like you don't really have choice in terms of area, and you know, for you, someone who lived in Sydney, having to go down a barrel because that's where there was something available. Like it is like, you know, and credit to you that you maintained that employment during that time, but for so many people, it would be really hard to maintain those connections and whether it's employment, whether it's school, whether it's family relationships, you know, whatever it is, it would be very hard to kind of maintain that that engagement when you're being moved around and just have to kind of you know pick up and go based on where a vacancy is, which is very much I think the experience of crisis refugees.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

Yeah, that kind of thing never really bothered me. I have a very like it is what it is mentality. Yeah, just took it in your stride. Yeah, well, you know, if it's what you gotta do, it's what you gotta do. Um yeah, it just never bothered me. It was just, you know, it's gotta be done, so I'll do it, and then you can kind of deal with the consequences later. Yeah. Um, you get up at five to be there for like, you know, 8 30, 9, and then once the day's done, you can be like, oh, I'm tired as I'm smashed. Yeah, yeah. It just you know, get up, do what you gotta do, and then you can deal with it later.

SPEAKER_03 12:51

Yeah, I think that is a big reflection of your resilience though. Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Like it definitely wasn't nice, it wasn't enjoyable, but it had to be done. It had to be done, yeah. Um, and it didn't affect me in a negative way at all. So again, yeah, no no bother on me.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

Yeah, no, cool. Thanks so much for sharing that.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

No, no worries.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

So, um, question two. Obviously, I haven't had first hand experience in the crisis refuge. So I guess my question to you is what did being in a crisis refuge mean to you? How did that impact your experience of homelessness?

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Um, it definitely made it a lot easier. Um, obviously without support, homelessness is just horrible, you know, like living on the street, having no food, n just nothing. I I wouldn't you know hope like wish that on anyone, no matter what. It's just disgusting to think about. Um I guess having the refuge to at least go back to if anything else, just a bed was like so comforting. Yeah, the necessities. Yeah, there was food, there was water, you know, they gave me toothbrushes and soap and all of that kind of stuff, just basic needs. Um they were all fulfilled. Anything else, like you know, I had a little bit of money from Central Inc. and all of that. Yeah. So that was spent on like, you know, soft drinks or subway or whatever, whatever was around. Of course. Um but it definitely gave me hope more than anything else, just hope that you know, if this is available, then what else can I find out there to help me? You know, like maybe I can actually get my own house one day or you know, meet some genuine mates again and that kind of thing. And all of that ended up happening. So it was just yeah, it was awesome. Amazing, absolutely awesome.

SPEAKER_03 14:38

Yeah. When we were talking um the other day, Tyson, you were you were talking about how the refuges provided accessibility, particularly to like information. Can you talk me through that and how that was kind of a bit of a game changer for you?

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Yeah, well, I I I couldn't give you an example. Um my memory's not the best, but say, like, you know, you're trying to get like an example for me was I needed um an original birth certificate. Yeah, I had no clue that you could order a brand new one. And my caseworker in Barrow was like, Oh, it's alright, and like you know, we'll we'll just order a new one.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

And what yes, it took a while for it to come. Um I ended up just having the information that I needed to order a new one. Yeah. And when that came, everything started like it started the ball rolling.

SPEAKER_03 15:27

That means you can then apply for Sennelline, which means you get an income, which means you can.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

I can like pay for rent and all of that kind of stuff, and after that everything started looking up. So I guess having that extra knowledge from the outside is a real game changer. Because a lot of that stuff you can't just like search up. Obviously, with the birth certificate stuff, you can like search it up, but stuff like that you can just find out through someone else. Um I found a lot of the stuff I did find out, it wasn't really publicly available. Yeah. So when I was at the bridge, that refuge, they had a lot, a lot, a lot of um sort of information and like forms and stuff you can just fill out that they have on hand. Yeah. Or a big support for me was the like the single-use Opal cards. Yeah. I did not know those were a thing, and then like if I ever had didn't have money and I needed to get to work, I just go in the office and they'd be like, Yep, just take one. Yeah. And you use that to tap on, tap off to get to work. Obviously, they wouldn't give it to you if you're just like going out. Yes, it's not necessary, but anything that was needed, they just happened to have something on hand. Yeah. That was invaluable, could not appreciate it anymore.

SPEAKER_03 16:38

Absolutely. I think it's that like what I'm hearing is it's it's the resources, not just physical things like an Opal card, but the resource that information is, because yeah, like you were saying, you kind of not being able to live with your mum anymore was quite a sudden thing. Like you don't have a moment to kind of think and prepare and plan, and then all of a sudden you're expected to, like we said, grow up very quickly and understand how to navigate a system that you've never had to navigate before. Like no one teaches you this. There's not like a manual that you can read, and so having access to people who supported you in that kind of really meant that you could get like make those steps and put those things in place that kind of saw you move forward.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Just going off the back of what Matt said, I I would love to hear if you had did you have anyone that you felt like you could speak to within any of the time? Was there someone that kind of was there for you to speak to or just kind of be a mentor or like is there anyone that stands out that you can kind of remember?

SPEAKER_00 17:53

Is this like in the refuges or like it can be it can be any really? Um yes and no, not so much on like the mentor sort of side of things, but um especially at the bridge, there was a few workers that I feel like I could just go in and sit and talk to for ages. Like um Sometimes that's all you really need. A lot of them became like good friends. Um I just sit there and just chat, just chat absolute nonsense for hours and hours. Um and it was just nice. It was a good break from like sitting in your room alone, just like thinking like, oh, I gotta do this, I gotta do that. You just go in and you know, if none of your mates are applying on Snap or anything like that, you just go in and you just have a chat and they they love to talk to you because it's not only is it their job, but they're genuinely passionate about it. I feel like that's special as well because not everyone that's in like youth support really cares, it's more just a job. Those people genuinely cared and it made me feel wanted. That was really, really nice.

SPEAKER_03 18:56

That's powerful. Thanks, man. Alright, Tyson. Third and final question, and this is the question that we ask um everyone here on the podcast because it's our vision here at Project Youth to um see a future where youth homelessness does not exist. Yeah. And so, third and final question in your mind, what does a future where youth homelessness does not exist look like? What does that future need? What does it have? What's going on there?

SPEAKER_00 19:35

Yeah, that is yeah, it's a big question. Um Yeah, I don't that's that's a good question.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Um What has been some things that has helped you through your journey? That's a good way of thinking about it.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

Yeah, um If I had to give one like aspect of it, it would definitely be the resources. Um just having access to simple things that even if it like let's take food for example, if you have like access to like canned foods or something through salvos or something like that, that means you have like maybe an extra twenty dollars that you can chuck in your savings over a couple weeks, you know, that turned into a hundred bucks. The hundred bucks might be what you need to you know go get a suit for a job interview or something like that. It yes, it takes time, but a lot of things take time like that. Um another example would be like you know, say if you ended up homeless and you've got like a dog or something, having the ability to get like pet food would be a massive help. Yeah, and a lot of places have that because you know everyone loves the everyone loves their dogs. So there would be a resource somewhere that you might be able to find. Um so if there was more resources for homeless people, for even like not so much just young people, everyone would benefit from just having more resources publicly available. I guess less greed in the world is needed, but that's never gonna happen, unfortunately. Um but we can try and work towards it. Yeah, absolutely. Um I guess if everyone pitched in a little bit, uh doesn't have to be anything massive, yeah. But you know, little bits here and there from everyone and I guess theoretically you could solve homelessness.

SPEAKER_03 21:40

Yeah, absolutely. Theoretically, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

It's not like there's no space left on earth. Yeah. It's just the resources and everyone's using it for this and that. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 21:52

I think I think you'd tapping into some things that we've spoken about on the podcast before about community, but I think you're taking it that one step further and a and about communal responsibility. Yeah, something like that. And I like, you know, we hear during election times, um, you know, politicians talk about what their plans are, what the budget is, what what their um the issues that they're building a platform on, but sometimes it feels like, and this is just my opinion, uh, sometimes it feels a little bit like lip service, but if we actually kind of made homelessness and youth homelessness a priority, and I know there's been a lot of discussions around having a youth-specific plan to addressing homelessness, because currently there isn't one.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

Um especially in this economy.

SPEAKER_03 22:43

Right, absolutely. Like I think we were even just talking um before, like it doesn't matter who you are, we're in a cost of living crisis. It's you know, getting a rental is hard, whether you're someone who's coming from a home an experience of homelessness or not. So like we're all actually experiencing the difficulties of the economy right now. Yeah, exactly. Where's the empathy? Where's the where's the the action to kind of go, okay, how do we share? How do we share resources? How do we increase capacity? How do we um reallocate funding so that the basic needs, because I, you know, what you're talking about, Tyson, about like, hey, like a can of food, some some non-perishable foods in the cupboard means saving twenty dollars on your groceries that week. If you're able to put that in savings, you do that for five weeks, you've got a hundred bucks, that's a suit, that's a job. Yeah, you know, I think that's a beautiful example of it's actually not just about the food, it's the impact that that financial pinch and removing that financial pinch can have.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

Well, everyone on the planet at the moment is going through that. Yeah, it's definitely a good example. I I couldn't obviously like the super rich aren't suffering from it too much, but even people they know would be doing it tough, like you know, say someone's like a millionaire, they've got like an expensive house. What if the rent on that goes up? They they could end up homeless, like it affects everyone, yeah. Yeah, and it's crazy to think about when you put it like that.

SPEAKER_02 24:14

Definitely, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

It's not like my story matters more than someone else, like everyone is going through it equally. That's it. And it's it's just mind-blowing to think about it like that.

SPEAKER_03 24:23

And we need to respond, and we have a responsibility to to care for those in who in our community who need that support. So and I think like you said, it's it's about making resources available. How are we gonna do that? How are we gonna build capacity to resource people with what they need to get through this day, this week, this month, this year.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

I feel like that's probably the biggest question is how do we allocate it? Yeah. Because a lot of people they want to just take, take, take, but how do you figure out who ac actually needs it more than this person? It's a very ethical question. Yeah. Like why do you need it more than this person? I I wouldn't want to have to answer that.

SPEAKER_03 25:01

I wouldn't want to have to have that job, no. That's a tough one.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

I would rather be homeless than have to answer that.

SPEAKER_01 25:08

Yeah, wow. Definitely, no, definitely. Um, well, that's pretty much all that we had to ask you. Yeah, too. I just want to thank you for being open and honest with all of us about you know some vulnerable times in your life. Um, I guess one reflection I took from this is the way that you still went to work with all that going on, you did all the travel and you just stayed devoted to that because that was the one thing that was like the most stable part. And I can't like I was thinking about the whole time, and I think that's so empowering in itself. Um, so I just want to say like that's amazing, and yeah, keep it up. And thank you so much. Thanks so much for sharing.

SPEAKER_00 25:46

Yeah, no problem. It's been a pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

No worries. Well, I think that's all that we have for today, and uh thanks, Matt. Thanks, Tyson, and uh I think that's where we'll leave at you next time. See you later.

SPEAKER_03 25:59

Listeners podcast is brought to you by Project Youth, a community-based charity serving the young people of the Sutherland Shire and St. George area in Sydney, Australia. It is a series about young people, told by young people and produced by young people. By listening today, you have supported the training and employment pathways for young people who are involved in the production of the podcast. Project Youth seeks to create a future where youth homelessness does not exist. If you'd like to know more about the work of Project Youth, the stories of the young people we support, or find ways in which you can be involved, head to our website at projectyouth.org.au or follow us on social media. See the bio for links.