New data from Melbourne City Mission has laid bare the scale of youth homelessness across Victoria, with figures for the Latrobe and Gippsland region painting a stark picture of young people trapped in trauma, mental health crisis and long-term housing instability.
MCM's Victorian Youth Homelessness Snapshot 2026 captured the experiences of 209 young people aged 15 to 24 accessing homelessness services on a single day, 1 April 2026, across Greater Melbourne and Latrobe/Gippsland.
Three-quarters of young people accessing services in Latrobe/Gippsland grew up experiencing family violence. Almost half reported self-harm, suicidal ideation or a suicide attempt. One in six had attended a hospital emergency department for mental health concerns at least once. More than half had been homeless for two years or more. And three in five were not engaged in study or work.
MCM CEO Paul Wappett said the data showed a system that was fundamentally broken. "Every young person in this snapshot has a story that starts with trauma and ends up in an emergency department, because there is nowhere else for them to go. Police, paramedics and hospital staff are working in a broken system and none of them can give a young person the home they need."
Professor Pat McGorry, executive director of Orygen, said the Royal Commission into Mental Health had promised to address this and the Victorian Government had so far failed to deliver. "You cannot recover from a mental health crisis while you are sleeping rough or moving between crisis beds. Housing has to be part of youth mental health care, not an afterthought."
MCM and Orygen are calling on Victoria's government to commit to a dedicated, funded supported housing model for young people, the youth equivalent of a program already promised, and only partly delivered, for adults. Cara Schultz
