Beyond Youth Homelessness - Quinn

In this episode of Beyond Homelessness: Conversations That Matter, Matt and Ethan sit down with Quinn to explore the stigma and misunderstanding that often surrounds youth homelessness.

Quinn shares her experience navigating homelessness from a young age and moving through Project Youth’s refuges and transitional housing program. She reflects on how assumptions about “naughty” or disengaged young people can overlook the complex realities happening behind closed doors.

Quinn also speaks about the power of stability — how having secure housing and consistent support created the space to focus on education, work and future goals. Her story highlights the importance of awareness, funding and support systems that give young people the chance not just to survive, but to build a future.

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Welcome to the Beyond Homelessness Podcast, a series that shares the stories of young people who have experienced homelessness, and those who work within the system designed to support them. Beyond Homelessness is a platform for young people to be heard, to tell stories that inspire, to have a voice at the table and see themselves represented. We believe that stories are a form of magic, that they can create new worlds, convey emotions, and inspire ideas. The stories you will hear in this series not only demonstrate the strength and resilience of the people sharing them, but will also get you thinking about viewpoints beyond your own and challenge you to consider the change that needs to take place in order to build a future where youth homelessness does not exist. Hello and welcome everyone to another episode of the Beyond Homelessness podcast. We're your hosts, Matt and Ethan. Mate, it's good to have you back again for another episode. Glad to be back. Glad to have you. And we are joined by an absolute legend of a young person and someone who's come through Project Youth's Transitional Housing Programme. Quinn, welcome.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Thank you very much. How are you going? I'm going very good, thank you. How about you? Oh, my friend.

SPEAKER_04 1:12

Doing great. Glad that the three of us are in the room together to shoot the breeze, have a yarn, and tell some stories. It's gonna be good.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 1:19

Um, Quinn, you and I have known each other for a while. Um, but for Ethan and and our listeners um tuning in who may not know you that well, are you able to just give us a bit of a uh I guess a bit of who you are and and your journey?

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Yeah, awesome. I definitely can. I am Quinn. I'm 17 years old. I've navigated the Project Youth Housing System since I was about 15. I first moved into the refuges, and then after I turned 16, I moved into the transitional housing program.

SPEAKER_04 1:57

Nice. For those people who don't know what a transitional housing program is, can you give us a bit of a definition?

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Yeah, it's I'd say it's supported but independent living. Yeah. You live by yourself, sometimes with um housemates, sometimes on your own, and you have support from your caseworker, those around you.

SPEAKER_04 2:18

Amazing, awesome.

SPEAKER_03 2:20

So I guess in a moment we're gonna jump in and talk a little bit about your story and your journey here with us, um, all the challenges you've faced, and I guess just you in general. So, are you ready to get started?

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 2:33

Alrighty. Beautiful. So I guess I'll start us off with question one. What kind of stigma or preconceived notions of homelessness did you come across?

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Well, I suppose there's always the one that homeless people are homeless because they do drugs or they drink alcohol, or that they're all drug users. When realistically that isn't the case, um I found that stigma was applied a lot towards me.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Uh that everyone thought I was drinking at the age of fourteen, fifteen, sixteen. Realistically, I've never had a sip of alcohol in my life because it's not something I'm interested in and it what it's what caused the downfall of my family. So I became very aware that it wasn't something I wanted. I also got labelled as a disobedient teenager. I didn't want to come home. I was always out late. I missed school and I was just burdened with the label of mishonest, disobedient.

SPEAKER_04 3:44

The naughty kids.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

The naughty kids, yeah. I was put in the naughty corner all the time. In my schooling, I wasn't the smartest, so I there was no reason for the school to be concerned about my progress because it was never something realistically that was that good.

SPEAKER_04 4:04

But Okay, yeah. So it was like there were signs, but people were misinterpreting them. Yeah. So I think, you know, you've mentioned before like being at the park and staying out late, and people kind of saw that as or perceived that as oh, Quinn's not following the rules like naughty kid. But you've kind of reflected that actually, no, the motivation behind that was hey, home didn't feel overly safe for me, and I was not wanting to return there. Yeah. And so it seems like, and I guess this is what stigma is, right? It's people's ignorance, their lack of understanding around um, and I guess lack of generosity in assumption, like rather than kind of saying, Oh, you're doing the wrong thing, um, but asking the question, like, you know, how it like what what is going on for you? And seems that the school missed that. I know you've mentioned to me before, Quinn, like family, when you left your home, there were family members who kind of uh labelled you as disobedient. And and you said something that really struck struck me. It was um that you know they didn't understand what was happening behind closed doors, they didn't understand what they couldn't see. Yeah. And it seems like that's where the stigma really kind of came for you.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Yeah, absolutely, because um looking into a household isn't looking into there's there's no clear glass, it's all tinted glass. You like you're you're never gonna see the truth, whether you're a guest in the home, you're never gonna see exactly what it's like because there is a facade. Um and you find that a lot when you walk into a household where there is domestic violence and suddenly it's all well and you can't see anything wrong. Well, the person must be lying, it can't be that bad.

SPEAKER_04 6:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

That's something you do see a lot.

SPEAKER_04 6:02

And was that some of your experience? That that lack of trust of what you were kind of saying, hey, this is what's going on for me. There was a lack of belief.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Yeah, absolutely. Um, because we looked generic from the outside.

SPEAKER_04 6:20

Everything seemed normal.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 6:22

Yeah. Oh I was just on that as well, something that I was thinking about that whole time you said, like, how do you overcome that if you're hearing it so much?

SPEAKER_00 6:31

With hearing it so much, I definitely lost um the belief that what I was going through was real. Yeah. It didn't feel that bad. I'd always told myself, it's not that bad.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Um, it was actually a professional that I opened up to turned to me and said, actually, that's fucked. Yeah. Said that to me straight up. And I was like, Maybe that isn't right. And it was comparing my story to the stories of kids you heard. Oh, they went to a sick birthday party on the weekend, and here's what happened, and this was their holiday, and here's how it went. And when you compare it to your own, you're like, oh, that's not that's awfully different. Yeah. And then growing up, material value isn't everything, but it was noticing the differences, um, noticing how you were treated, the differences. You go over to a friend's house and notice what that how their parents treated you, and it was just a contrast, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:36

Yeah, yeah, which just goes to show like how important validation is, right? Because I guess you know, gaslighting is a huge thing. We talk about it a lot, but we can also gaslight ourselves, can't we? Like, um, oh well, maybe maybe this is normal, maybe maybe everything is fine, maybe this is all in my head. But it sounds like it was super important for you to experience that moment where a professional said, no, this is this is something important, and this is something, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:09

I guess it's I guess it's hard, sorry to cut you off, but I guess it's hard as well as if that's what you've lived with, right? Like you don't know any different. Yeah, it becomes super normal until you go to that friend's house and you're like, oh, this doesn't happen at my like, oh, why's this? And then obviously speaking to someone professional, it kind of gives you a better understanding of that emotion and that feeling of oh that felt different.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

It absolutely was my normal. I didn't know any different. Um it was my it was how I lived my life since I was born. It was it's just how it was. It wasn't until I was about seven and a kid asked me a fairly sensitive question and he goes, Do your f does does your family do that? Do in does your family do this? And I was like, Yeah, and he goes, What do you mean? Why would they do that?

SPEAKER_03 9:06

Yeah, well, okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

And I was like, That's not normal. Yeah, Why wouldn't they? Why wouldn't they? Like this is this is normal, and he goes, No, it's not and I just sort of sat there and I think that was the realization of something's not right.

SPEAKER_04 9:22

Maybe, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Something's not right, but I'm not sure what.

SPEAKER_04 9:27

Yeah, okay. Man, that's powerful, and such an important, I think, challenge for us to consider is um our normal is not always someone else's. Someone else's. Yeah, yeah. Which again, and we've talked about this on the podcast before, the need to share stories, to have open communication, um, to be able to feel safe to be vulnerable to sh to talk about that stuff is where we where we learn and where we can start to experience new perspectives. Yeah, that's powerful, Quinn. Thanks. So, Quinn, before when you were sharing a bit about your story, you spoke about kind of moving through the Project Youth Housing Program, being in the refuges, moving into transitional housing. Can you share more about that program and how it changed your circumstances, how it empowered you even with everything that was going on?

SPEAKER_00 10:27

Yeah, absolutely. So moving into the transitional housing program gave me stability. Um the current program I'm in was is two years long. I have certain housing for two years. Uh, you can focus on your current goals while you're there. That really empowered me because I never had the opportunity to settle down and just focus on something. I couldn't think of the future, I could only think of the now. And yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:01

Yeah, absolutely. I remember when we were talking um last week, you were sharing about you know, you come into a refuge, which is like the immediate place that you can go when you're experiencing homelessness, and they're asking you questions about your future goals, and you're like, I don't have capacity to to to even think about that. Um but it sounds like the and like you said, stable certain housing for two years kind of opens up the the possibility to start thinking future because I guess from what you've shared with me when you're experiencing homelessness in that moment, you're in survival mode. You're like, I'm I'm dealing with now. Like there's nothing beyond that.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

Yeah. You I was definitely put in the zone of hey, you you've got to find food for tonight. You can't find like you won't be able to find food for tomorrow the day after, you've got to focus on tonight. But living in transitional housing gave me the stability and capacity I needed to apply for a job that I've worked consistently in for two years now. Amazing. Um apply for a second job even that I'm loving. It's given me the the ability to put food on the table for certain. Yeah. Sure there's still financially rough times, but the most important thing is having a roof over your head.

SPEAKER_04 12:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:38

You also mentioned earlier, like, you know, you school, um I guess because of everything that was happening in in your life, you know, your school attendance and I guess school achievement was suffering. But that also like transitional housing also helped that as well, didn't it?

SPEAKER_00 12:58

When I first moved into the refuges, I didn't think I was gonna complete my high school, my high schooling, and I thought, well, once I find a job, I'm just gonna drop out. My attendance wasn't all that good when I was in the refuges, and albeit it wasn't brilliant when I moved into transitional housing either. Um, because realistically you still have challenges you face in transitional housing. I was a 16-year-old liveli live living the life of an adult, paying groceries, paying rent, being forced to grow up. Being forced to grow up far too fast. But it it it gave me the opportunity to expand my interests, which included my education. I was able to learn what I need what I wanted to. Yeah. Um, I completed my year twelve, which so many people had told me I'd never do just because I could never had the stability to do so.

SPEAKER_04 13:59

Yeah. Which I think brings us back to stigma, right? Like I think people could look at disengagement from school and just think, oh, another teenager who doesn't like school, which wasn't the case for you at all. It was, hey, this is an important goal, but there was a time in your life where you only had capacity to deal with the now and not the later.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Yeah, absolutely. Um scrap that. Lost my train of thought.

SPEAKER_03 14:31

Oh, fair enough. Well, I've got a question if I can jump in. Um I guess me again thinking and listening to your story, me not being from transition or having that experience, or even the crisis um experience, what like you said, oh you never thought you were gonna um finish your 12th. I'd love to understand the mental and the emotional toll that it can play on some young people going through that. And obviously, I know that uh a crisis is such a short stay, and then you go to a brand new stay. Obviously, there's an emotional and um again the stability, like how did you cope and how'd you manage with that?

SPEAKER_00 15:08

Yeah, so I was definitely terrified when I first moved into the refuge my first night um after they'd done all the intake. The first question was, So where are you going after this? Like it was already planning for the future, and I didn't have the capacity to do that. And I remember I went up to my room and I started crying. I just laid there and I cried, and I came back down later and for my medication, tear-stricken red eyes, and they asked me, What's up? And I said, Nothing, I'm fine, and took my medication and marched back up the stairs, slammed the door and got up bright and early for school the next day because didn't want to be there, yeah, but I had nowhere else to be. But as as time progressed, I eventually did feel safer. Yeah, I felt safer, and I realistically I was living with four strangers, four people I'd never met before.

SPEAKER_04 16:12

The other residents, the other residents there, yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

And there were staff members there all the time, which was lovely. And then moving into transitional was the leap. It was you've gone from 24-7 support to well, if a possum's in your roof, you've got to call someone. Someone's not gonna call them for you.

SPEAKER_02 16:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

Um, it was the the whole new level of adulting. Of course. And trying to negotiate differences between housemates, trying to accommodate for everyone's needs, everyone's capacity, everyone's capabilities, trying to work through squabbles. But we always had a caseworker who was able to guide us through those problems and through house meetings we were able to work things out. And sometimes housemates just weren't compatible. They got moved into different programs, which is unfortunate but it happens, and it's the way everyone stayed the most comfortable in their circumstances.

SPEAKER_04 17:17

Yeah, well. Can I just like when you think about um like transitional providing you time and space and kind of that security, um what else has that program done to kind of prepare you, I guess?

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Prepare me. Um so I pay rent, which looks pretty good on my rental ledger. I can walk up and go, look, I've paid rent consistently for however long.

SPEAKER_04 17:54

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

Well, I'm moving into a five-year program soon, so that I'll have seven years of paying rent behind me and go look at this. Thank you very much. I'm pretty stoked.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

You should be.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Yeah, so absolutely. In transitional housing, I learnt budgeting skills, which has become really helpful in day-to-day life. Because I love to purchase little ignats. Um gotta I should set up a little trinket shelf for these little mofu stand figurines that came out, the little cats with the hats, oh, everywhere in my head.

SPEAKER_03 18:40

I love that, I love that.

SPEAKER_00 18:41

But uh it's been pretty crucial keeping to a budget so my savings doesn't go into poor financial decisions. Yeah, because I'm very prone to that. Yeah. Um, and it's been really beneficial being able to have the money put aside for groceries so I can get adequate groceries to survive me the fortnight. Um, I'm able to do things with friends. Obviously, there's always a stress of finances because the world's expensive these days, but I'm living as comfortably as I can financially due to learning budgeting. Yeah. And I'm able to do my groceries. I learnt living skills, um, how to store foods, uh, a lot of things that people find really simple. Um, I didn't know pillowcases had to be washed once a week. That was something revelating for me. Yeah, and I was like, damn, do I do it? Probably not.

SPEAKER_03 19:39

Yeah. I was about to say, do they? Do they need to do that?

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I've heard like it's once a week.

SPEAKER_04 19:44

Oh, okay. I mean, I guess you are sticking your head on it every night.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

Yeah, I don't think about it either.

SPEAKER_04 19:51

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

It's fine. I'm 17, I can make mistakes.

SPEAKER_04 19:55

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 19:56

But I think what I'm hearing from you, Quinn, is like this program, it like you said, it provides that security and that certainty for a time so that you can breathe and kind of start to consider the future. But there's also there's a guidance, there's a teaching. Um, because I guess for better or for worse, you are required to grow up earlier than than than others, and someone needs to teach you that kind of stuff, and so there's a learning in that it's not it's so much more than just the four walls, I guess is what I'm trying to say. Which is incredible, it's a great programme.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

It is, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 20:37

Thanks so much, love it.

unknown 20:43

Sorry.

SPEAKER_03 20:45

So I guess the last question, and the last question we're asking all of our guests. So um, in your mind, what does a future where homelessness does not exist look like to you?

SPEAKER_00 20:57

Well, realistically, we're not gonna have that future without adequate supports. It's not just gonna disappear overnight. The first the first thing we need is awareness. Yeah. People aren't aware as to how frequent youth homelessness is and how many people it actually happens to. Um, another thing we need is adequate supports for families, for those who who want to keep families together, or if it's a circumstance where the family unfortunately can't stay together. Um, adequate and almost instant instant support for where that young person can go.

SPEAKER_04 21:40

Yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

Appropriate funding as well is super important. Um because the reason one of the reasons young people, homeless young people don't receive the help they need in the correct time frame is because there's not a lot not enough funding. I once got told by one of my caseworkers that I was a success story. And I thought about that and I was like, that's cool, but I'm just a young person who has provided adequate housing. Housing. I was given what I needed. But there isn't enough funding for everyone.

SPEAKER_04 22:25

To receive that.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

Yeah. And a future without youth homelessness would stem from funding and awareness and programs as well.

SPEAKER_04 22:35

Yeah. I think you're not the first person to bring up awareness and and I guess opening up that conversation around what youth homelessness is. And I think it really ties into what you were sharing with us earlier, Quinn, around those stigmas, those misconceptions, preconceived notions that people have around youth homelessness. And the only way that we're gonna break those down is to open up the conversation, which is obviously what we're seeking to do here on the podcast, is just share stories, hear people's insights, listen to their experiences, and and I guess even for a moment, even if it's just 30 minutes on a podcast, walk a little bit in someone else's shoes or or at least hear what it's like to walk in their shoes. And hopefully that conversation definitely starts something. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

I find it incredibly empowering being here today and sharing my story because touching back to some point in the podcast um we were talking about how n not a lot of young people are believed. Yeah. Um this sort of reaffirms that I'm believed, and it's a huge point for me healing to sit here and go, here is some of my story to raise awareness.

SPEAKER_04 23:53

Yeah. Well, thank you so much. Like it's been an honor to like hear your story and to be able to um yeah, kind of sit here and just listen and learn from you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 24:05

And I think on that as well, as I I thank you as well, because from someone that's never experienced the transition or the crisis side, it really stood out to me and gives me a better understanding of what that process like and the emotional toll and what it is like for you know young people that are like 12 to 24 years of age. Like that's that's crazy, and you say you grow up, and yeah, that's a big part of it. Um, but it's it's just so incredible that you have gotten through and where you are now, so you should be super proud of yourself.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_04 24:39

No, that's alright. I'm just gonna add so Quinn wrote a poem. Is it okay that I mentioned this?

SPEAKER_00 24:45

You can you can mention it.

SPEAKER_04 24:46

Quinn wrote a poem for her HSC creative writing, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_00 24:51

I think it was my year. Or year 11. Year ten or year ten. What's it called? The mandatory tests that you have to do to see if you're smart enough.

SPEAKER_04 25:01

Oh, the nap plan? No Rosa? Anyway, it was for school. She wrote this beautiful poem about what home is, and I wept. Like it was the most incredible thing ever. It's always a delight to listen to Quinn and hear the way she speaks about your experience, and it is you're a delight, Quinn, and I'll say it again. Yeah. Um, so thanks so much for joining us on today's podcast.

SPEAKER_03 25:24

Yeah, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_03 25:26

No worries, anytime.

SPEAKER_04 25:32

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. See the bio for links.