SPECIAL EPISODE Beyond Youth Homelessness - Council Mayor, Jack Boyd

In this special edition of the Beyond Youth Homelessness Podcast, recorded live on Youth Homelessness Matters Day, host Matt is joined by Sutherland Shire Mayor Jack Boyd to explore the role our community plays in ending youth homelessness.

Together, they unpack the reality behind the statistics, the challenges within the housing system, and the practical ways local government, organisations, and individuals can contribute to change. From affordable housing and advocacy to prevention and community connection, this episode highlights that ending youth homelessness requires a collective effort.

This is a conversation about moving from awareness to action and the part each of us can play in creating lasting change. Because real change happens when communities come together, when awareness turns into action, and action leads to impact.

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

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to the Beyond Youth Homelessness Podcast, a platform dedicated to sharing the voices, stories, and solutions that are shaping a future where youth homelessness no longer exists. This episode is a special edition for Youth Homelessness Matters Day, a national day of action that calls on us to raise awareness, amplify lived experience, and take meaningful steps towards ending youth homelessness. Today's episode was recorded live at Project Youth in the Sutherland Shire, where we brought together community leaders, sector partners, and young people to explore one critical question. What role does our community play in ending youth homelessness, and what do we need to do differently to achieve it? At Project Youth we support thousands of young people each year across prevention, housing and employment pathways. But the reality is stark. Nearly four in five young people seeking housing support are turned away due to limited resources. This is more than a housing crisis. This is a social justice issue. Because every young person deserves access to safe, secure housing, and right now, too many are being left behind. In this series, you'll hear from leaders across government, housing, and funding sectors as we unpack the reality, the responsibility, and the action needed to create change. This conversation is part of our young people advocating change initiative, ensuring that lived experience is not only heard, but is actively shaping the solutions. Let's get into the episode. Well, hello and welcome to our special edition episode of the Beyond Youth Homelessness Podcast. We are celebrating Youth Homelessness Matters Day here today. And as part of our journey in continuing conversations and upholding stories of young people, we want to grow in our awareness of the experience of youth homelessness and really take into heart the purpose of today, which is to go from awareness and into action. So today we've got a very special guest. We've got the mayor of the Southern Shire, Jack Boyd. Jack, welcome to the podcast. Great to have you here. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

I'm really excited to take part in the podcast today.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Yeah, absolutely. Keen to get your opinions, experiences, perspectives. Um, gotta ask, though, before we get into the questions that we've got today. Uh, I've grown up in the Shire my whole life, bit of a shy rat myself. Um, for yourself, the mayor of Southernshire, can you give us it, give us the hot takes? What are, like, what does a classic weekend in the Southernshire look like for you?

SPEAKER_02 2:55

So it's probably not the right answer, but like I'm intrigued. The best weekend for me is one where I don't have too many events on, actually get to spend some time with my wife and my friends. So um, I live down in Kranawa now, and um, probably the ideal weekend for me, get up, go for a walk along the Esplanade, take a dip in the pool down at um Shirley Rock Pool, uh, go out and enjoy um a lunch, um, maybe even get some time to read my book, um, and then uh go go down, enjoy one of the beautiful restaurants that we have to offer. Absolutely. It's uh yeah, just nice and slow. That's not what my normal weekends look like, but that's what a that's what an ideal weekend is.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

That's what we dream of, that's what we hope for. I'm sure along that walk along the Esplanade, there's a coffee in hand.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

Yes, very much so. Made at home ideally, and but more often than not, um, trusting one of the fantastic baristas down at uh Cranolla. What is your coffee order? Just a flat white with one. Beautiful. Yeah. We keep it simple and I love that.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Well, Jack, we're thrilled to have you here. Um, very keen to, as I've said, like we want to kind of move from awareness of youth homelessness into an action. We understand that this is a big issue and something that will take all of us as a community. And so, as a key representative of our community, very excited to hear your perspective and reflections on um how we can seek to end youth homelessness, which is the whole purpose of what we're doing today and what Youth Homelessness Matters Day is all about. So we might just jump straight into it. I've got some questions for you, so let's go. So, Jack, my first question for you comes from some of the I guess statistics that we see about young people who experience youth homelessness. And one of these statistics is that nearly four in five young people are turned away from housing support in our community. For you, what does what does that statistic mean for you?

SPEAKER_02 5:04

So it's a deeply shocking statistic. And it's something that I think it's really important that we make people more aware of that, and that's the reality that some young people are going through. But then not just being aware of it and work out how we can take action. Now, obviously, that is very difficult when there are responsibilities that are split between varying levels of government or increasingly so delegated out to non-government organizations. And I think that is a real moral challenge and it puts practical challenges in place as well. Now, from a council perspective, we obviously aren't a housing provider, but there are still important ways in which we can help to address this problem. So uh a primary responsibility of ours is strategic planning for land use. And there are undeniable gaps in how we plan to use our land and the way in which it can be utilized by land owners or prospective owners to better address this gap. So there's challenges around the definition of different properties, how they can be picked up, where we might be able to offer incentives or subsidies to help uh drive further stock. And obviously, housing supply, housing affordability is a massive issue, and that has an impact on one side of the equation because there's less homes that people can get into. And even when those homes are available, they're often unaffordable. Absolutely. Now, there are different types of housing that I think have enormous social benefit. Obviously, dedicated housing through providers that can assist with the issue of youth homelessness, but there's other things like specialist disability accommodation that also falls through the gaps. It's not a specific land use. And so it gets picked up through things like just regular residential properties, potentially boarding houses, and they can have negative connotations, and then there's the separate beyond the actual use of the land, how that's provided social housing, affordable housing. So it's a complex issue, but there are ways in which I think councils can do more. And so one such way is that council collects what we call developer contribution. So when somebody builds a property, we collect a contribution towards the infrastructure that we have to provide as a council to meet the needs of the community. Now, what we've done here in Sutherland Shire, and I hope it's a model that other people will pick up on, is that we've said, well, these types of accommodation that add enormous social value, why are we slugging them with this additional contribution? Wouldn't those funds be better spent in the provision of the services on those properties? Yeah, amazing. So we've created an exemption process to basically say if you're a project youth, if you're an affordable housing provider, if you're a disability support provider, and you are building a property that we will exempt you from those contributions. Now, it it is just one of many pieces in a puzzle. Absolutely. But that $20,000 that you might save through that process is going back into providing services. And it's not, it's not a cheap process to provide that support. So there's that land use planning side. Um, but then on the other side, there's a role that council has as a connector and as an aggregator. So we provide so many services into the community that address um in economic terms market failure. The private sector is not providing these things, and there is uh social value in providing them. So things like leisure centres, no one's ever turning a profit out of leisure centres, performing arts, um, things like that. We do as routine business, building roads, things like that. It has social value, we need to do it. Um, and I think that when we look at that gap where it is being deferred onto organizations, um, they can be disparate organizations, or people will turn to council on the assumption that we might be able to help solve that problem. And so we've built really strong connections with organizations like Project Youth, other people who work in the space. And so I see uh a role we can play is better connecting those service providers with the people who need assistance, or at least putting sending them in the right direction to provide that assistance. So I think that um between our role as like an aggregator and connector of community groups and people through our land use planning, through the subsidies that we provide to organizations or the grants that we give out, there's lots of little ways that we can chip in, and a big part as well as our advocacy. So, how can we, as not an individual or not a loan organization that people might look at rightly or wrongfully and say, well, this is your core business? Of course, you're gonna have that view. Yeah. How can we, as a level of government, better advocate to our counterparts in state and federal to say, these are serious issues, we think there's a solution on the table, or we think you need to tackle it differently? So uh across those three different areas, I see that as being a place where we can hopefully move the needle and start working together more collaboratively to address this problem.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Yeah, amazing. And I I wonder, like for for me as a member of community, what role can I play in collaboration with the council to highlight the need for further housing support for young people?

SPEAKER_02 10:07

I I think that's a great question. And there's a couple of different levels to it. So if you are aware of somebody who's experiencing homelessness, there's obviously it's important to get them in touch with the right services. So if you don't have that information yourself, reaching out to council, we can hopefully put you in touch with the right people, reaching out to the state government and its different services as well. So I'd say that first point is where there is good intention, putting that, um, putting that out to to work to ensure that people reach the right service providers because they're the experts and that's they're the people who have to lead that response. Yeah. Um so I think that that connection point, reaching out and asking the question in first instance. Um then there is also when it comes to us developing our own policies, how can we make them the best that they can be? Like sometimes I think people assume that council or counselors and definitely the mayor, they think that we we somehow know everything that's going on all the time. And and and that's just not the case. Like, I won't know about a problem until somebody tells me. So we encourage people to report those issues back to us, but then to help try and shape the policies that we are then implementing to address it as well. And that might be narrow through the scope of what council does, but we also have broader advocacy strategies and things that we um again will turn around and try and work with either the private sector or other levels of government. And we seek community feedback on those points. So getting involved with our various reference groups that try and tackle these issues from policy-specific um uh reference groups, or just more broadly, we have a platform called Join the Conversation. And I talk about it till I'm um red in the face because it's like it is the best way to help us understand what your priorities are. And you don't know what you don't know. Exactly. And we're not going to be able to make those changes and unless we hear those voices and can adapt to them. So letting us know what you think is an important step, and and then of course, it's not directly through counsel, but then there's the that that kind of tertiary point of like, get involved. Like these organizations will always be looking for more help, whether that's in a volunteer capacity or if you're taking it a step further and you're really passionate about making that change, looking at a way that you might be able to help them directly or even open doors to a career in that space. So it is a spectrum, but it starts with knowing and understanding the issue and getting in touch with the right people, helping to change that through our feedback and then also getting involved yourself.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Fantastic. Well, let's move on to question two. So, Jack, our second question, you've you've touched on this already in what you've shared around land planning and subsidies and advocacy pieces. Um, but I guess we've got an additional part to this question. So, what role does the council have to play in ending youth homelessness? And you've already spoken about some of those roles already. Um, the second part is what needs to change? Like what is currently in place that that we do need to see change in order to make some real movement towards a future where youth homelessness doesn't exist.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

Yeah, so I think um back back to what I probably jumped into a little too early in the first question, but it's it's it's that um that advocacy piece, there's the land use planning piece and the direct involvement we have through grants and subsidies and the like. And council has provided over a number of years support to various organizations, to Project Youth as well, to uh to help do our bit to move forward the initiatives that are being driven by those subject matter um experts. So there's there's that kind of broad framework of how we can get involved. But I think that how we actually are going to make change, not just as a council but as a society, is looking at those broader, uh, those broader impacts. Like what is what is fueling youth homelessness and prevention um is better than a cure. So, how can we jump in and try and tackle those things that are leading to people falling into um uh the category of being homeless, whether that's couch surfing through to to rough sleeping. And obviously for for young people that is um more often than not on the um the couch surfing side of the equation. And I think because that is um the case as well, uh why that um awareness piece is so important. Like it's com communicating the scale of the issue, but also what that what that means in practice. Um and uh people lead busy lives, they they might be tangentially aware but not understand in depth. So that that education piece is huge. But then it's also looking at these big meaty problems about supply. And we we we hear this all the time at council, and it's something that we're trying to address um generally through saying where can we open up this land um or where can we um look to include those land uses that might encourage and make it easier to put more housing stock um online. And one of the things that we've looked at, and this is specifically through the prism of affordable housing, is that Southernshire had been lagging behind a lot of other councils when it came to affordable housing, but now we have an affordable housing policy now. That's just that's just one part of the equation. Somebody's actually got to buy the land, somebody's actually got to develop that land, somebody's got to provide those services. So um there's a piece to say we want to build more affordable housing. What does that look like? Where is it? How do we potentially reserve elements of that? So not just saying we need to reserve a portion of overall housing for it to be affordable, but then of affordable housing, are we or should we be looking at saying we need to reserve this for young people in particular? And then how does that integrate in with service providers? And then obviously an approach to um either easing out or transitioning into like regular um adult affordable housing. So um I think there's there's if there was a silver bullet, somebody would have found it um already, and that's that's um uh a bit of a challenge, but that's not to say that a solution isn't out there. So we are tackling that problem through the affordable housing policy by saying we will collect contributions from developments and that we could then um commit those contributions to affordable housing providers. Yeah, they would then run uh and deliver those services and manage it under the affordable housing framework. And so um these things have a very long tail, though. You put the policy in place, policy's there, somebody then tries to um uh to to build that housing, then there's a development time, or they they um the the gap between when you put the policy in place and when the places are built is not overnight. It can be years and years. Absolutely, and the same with this contributions approach where we want to collect those contributions and put them towards something. Well, if somebody's giving a little bit here and a little bit there, it takes a while for that bucket to get big enough to then even activate. So um that's that is a challenge in where some of the things I think probably more suited from a federal government um or a state government perspective is saying, well, we need to in larger sort of projects say that this has to be a a priority, or that we will um commit funding or look at um substreams of uh social housing that might directly incorporate this. But again, it's a huge challenge already with enormous waiting lists and people based on the average wait time. You might have gone onto the list as a young person, and then by the time you actually get um the chance to go to a house, it's 10 years later. You've aged out, yeah. Yeah, so it's um it's uh that that that gap, particularly for youth homelessness, I think is the immediacy. And that's where all of these things that people are trying to do at varying levels of government, it takes a lot of time. So how do we quickly jump in? I think that needs to be um a conversation around targeted investment.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:07

Um, and uh I'm gonna be very open in in saying that it's like that's just not something that is council's kind of core core business. So we'd be looking to probably more say how can we partner with state and feds to say we're aware of the magnitude of the issue, we need a stop gap, and that needs specific investment.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

I wholeheartedly agree. I think as you were talking, the first thing that popped into my head is there are so many different components, so many different bodies that are involved and need to move the needle at various points through the process, um which can bottleneck a process. And so what does it mean to have a timely response? It becomes a complicated uh journey. Um, but I think again, the thing that stood out to me is this is a community then approach um at all levels, whether it's federal, state, local government, whether it's you know the private organization that's doing the construction or what have you. Like it's something that we all need ownership over.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

Yeah, definitely. And I think as as well, despite I I think starting that answer by talking about prevention being better than a cure, jumped into discussing the cure because it's kind of like we we know there's a problem, we need to focus on that as well. But then there's the prevention side of it and saying, like, well, well, what is what is leading to people becoming homeless? Like, what sort of um uh initiatives, programs, support can we provide to get people into stable work? That acknowledges as well the fact that if you're experiencing um homelessness, you might not have a fixed address that throws up barriers, the fact that you may not be in a position to travel great distances to find work. So, where um where and how can we look at things like social enterprises, um through partnership programs, and to to get people through what is a big barrier, which is cost. And if if there's not something available that's fully subsidized or available through a provider, if your only alternative is the private market, well then you need a job. Yeah. And and and like the biggest thing we can do to help you get a fixed address is by helping you get into a meaningful and stable work. Yeah. And that needs to overcome the challenges of your current state. So how can we identify where there are larger employers? Because normally it's a bit of a challenge from a small business perspective. Um, if you're saying, like, look, I I I need to get somebody in and I need them to go now. As soon as it starts to become hard, it's not a judgment on the people to do this, but saying, like, if if it's hard, like I don't want to have to try and jump through the hurdles, I just need to fix my problems. Yeah. So it generally will be larger providers, governments and the like that have that scale to be able to say, well, we'll we'll have the confidence to to work on pathways that look past some things that otherwise might we will meet you where your capacity currently is exactly and and build on that. Yeah. And then there's um that that I think on the job front, that's a huge piece. But then it's also those that wrap around support services. Like it might not just be the fact that you don't have um a fixed address or a stable, um uh a stable and consistent roof over your head, but then how is that linked into support for uh potential mental health, other issues like that as well. So it's not trying to pick on one aspect of a broad array of contributing factors, but saying we know what all these factors are. So we need to address all of them. We can't just go we're all in on housing supply, which is a five to ten year fix. We need to say, like, well, we need to be working on how we can find better jobs, we need to be working on mental health support, we need to be working around on access to healthcare. Like, so it's it's cheaping away at everything rather than saying, like, again, there's this one silver bullet. If you just if somebody just showed up with a check, then it would be done. It's not the case. And by embracing the fact that we need to address The problem we also have to accept the enormous problem. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

This is a puzzle with many pieces. Yeah, absolutely. Fantastic. Well, let's get on to my third and final question. Well, final question for the day. Um, if every community member listening today took one meaningful action, what would you want that to be?

SPEAKER_02 22:34

Oh, geez. Um, I think that that first step, and we we mentioned it before, but is being aware of the issue and saying, great, let's just take in in particularly if somebody's listening to this uh this podcast, let's hope that they're aware of the issue and its importance. But let's say if somebody sees um uh a friend, a colleague, um, you you you hear that, oh well my my kid comes home to their their parents and says like well like Tim's sleeping in in the car at the moment, there is obviously that first point of connect them with the right services and the right help. And so I think that is so important. So if if like to to pick up the old um I think it was a like a national security moniker, uh, but if you see something, say something. So um and it's not just about saying, it's about connecting through and making sure that that's being um addressed. So I think taking that positive action yourself to help connect somebody to the right services, that is the number one action I'd like to see people take. Um but then I think the the next one would be taking that a step further and saying if you believe this is an issue, which I think everybody does, if you if you sat down and had this conversation with somebody for 10 minutes, I think that they would go, I agree we need to do something. Well, how can you as an individual help to to make that change? Um, it's through your advocacy and your support. So, like if you care about this issue, make sure people know, whether it's state, local, federal, your friends, your family, and everybody has a sphere of influence. And whether it's those little steps like helping helping somebody out that you know personally, um, or helping somebody out that you don't know personally through um getting involved with organizations like Project Youth, there's if everybody does that little bit extra, it will have a huge impact because there's people um who spend their whole lives trying to tackle this issue, and there's people who probably aren't even aware of it. Yeah, and but the the the positive efforts of us as a community will lead to more positive change. And whether that is reaching into your reaching into your back pocket and like making a donation, whether it's donating your time and your efforts, there is a whole scale, and not not all of those things are gonna be open to somebody. But if we're at least speaking about it and we're taking those little steps that we can, it's not saying everyone has to do everything, but everybody does that little bit more, it's gonna make a huge difference.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Absolutely. And again, that's what uh Youth Homelessness Matters Day is all about, like taking action. First, like having the awareness and then taking action. And I think that as you were saying, like the see something, say something. Yeah, the first thing that jumped out to me was for a lot of people, youth homelessness isn't something that they see. And you mentioned this before. It's not necessarily for um young people sleeping rough, it's more that they're couch surfing. And so they might have had access to a shower and maybe some clean clothes. So they present relatively well and it can be a real easy blind spot for so many people. Um and so first seeing it is actually a big step for a lot of people, and then taking that knowledge and doing something with it, turning it into action.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

Yeah, and I think that's a a really great point because it might not be immediately uh apparent in the same way that if you walk through a town center and you see somebody sleeping rough, it's like it it's it's challenging because it's it's it's right there in front of your face. Um but like you pointed out, if somebody is going through um homelessness in that core more sort of their couch surfing range, um, it might not be as immediately apparent, but then by the same token, it's like people like people know the person who's experiencing that. Yeah, and it might be harder to see, but it's it is not completely invisible. Yeah, and that person has friends, those uh those friends have um parents, caregivers, yeah, those people might be involved in sport, or they might have dropped out of their sporting team. Like we we live in a community that is so connected, and there's that joke about the Shire that it's two degrees of separation. Yeah, you can't tell me that in that context where everyone knows everybody. I can go up to Miranda Fair and it's somebody who like my mum taughts, like auntie who like met me as through if that person can come up and have a chat, you can know if a schoolmate or a friend or a siblings, um, a siblings friend like you you have to be aware and looking for it because it is harder to see, but it's not completely invisible. And there's there's a lot of people out there who might um they might not know for certain, but it's also about having that conversation. Like we we talk about it through a whole bunch of other issues, yeah, whether it's uh about mental health or are you okay or um through increased focus on understanding um uh where domestic violence might be included. Like it is a community problem, and so therefore it's back onto the community to be looking out for it in the same way that you would um your loved one's mental health or for um uh instances of family and domestic violence. Like people need to be thinking more about this does occur. So if I accept that it does occur and you hear those numbers that we discussed earlier, chances are whether it's directly or that second degree of separation, you know somebody who's going through this.

SPEAKER_01 27:51

Yep. And I think that's a great kind of call to action to end up our time together. Jack, thank you so much for joining us for the conversation.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

No, my pleasure. Thank you so much. It's been really great to chat through this important issue, and it's um always great uh wherever I can. Love to try and support the incredible work of Project Youth.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

Yeah, thank you so much, and uh until next time.

SPEAKER_02 28:13

Yeah, till next time.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

Thanks for listening to this special Youth Homelessness Matters Day edition of the Beyond Youth Homelessness podcast. What you've heard today is a reminder that youth homelessness is not inevitable, it is preventable. But ending it requires more than awareness. It requires action from all of us. If this episode has sparked something for you, there are many ways to get involved. You can take the bare project pledge to be engaged, act, and rise. See our bio for more information. You can support Project Youth through partnerships, employment opportunities, or by contributing to safe housing pathways. You can advocate, challenge stigma, and use your voice and networks to push for change. Because ending youth homelessness is not the responsibility of one organization. It's a shared responsibility across our entire community. To learn more, support our work, or hear more stories like this, follow the Beyond Youth Homelessness podcast and share this episode with your network. Together, we can move from awareness to accountability and from managing homelessness to ending it.