Since our arrival in 2007, my colleague and I have watched the municipality expand rapidly, with six more families each week choosing to call Wyndham home.

We have recognised an increase in the number of young people sleeping on the streets, or 'couch surfing' between households they barely know.

Ninety per cent of our clients are not in stable accommodation and many cannot remember a night within the last two years when they felt safe and secure.

The notion of 'running away to rebel' is becoming less common. Instead, we hear that leaving 'home' is a necessity rather than a choice.

A staffed emergency refuge is crucial if young people are to consider anything outside of their accommodation crisis.

The distressing news: such a place doesn't exist in Wyndham. On a good day, we are able to help a young person find refuge in another area. This involves many phone calls and a long drive to a site doing the best it can with limited resources.

As a worker, it is difficult to evaluate the value of a dry bed (on the rare occasions it's found) against the detriment of removing a young person from what little resources and support they have - be it friends, family, professional workers or simply a familiar community that has been their base for years.

The choice is usually made by the feet of our clients. I have lost count of the occasions I have driven young people across the city to get them accommodation only to return to Wyndham and find them later that night on the streets.

They usually explain that while the thought of being safe is wonderful, being separated from a neighbourhood which they value is unbearable. Despite its frequency, I'm still blown away by how much pride young people have in a community that cannot meet their most fundamental need.

-Johanna de Vries, youth outreach worker.

More: www.openfamily.com.au