Youth homelessness data highlights urgency for action

Drawing from lived experience, evidence-based models and data, a coalition of young people, frontline service providers and peak bodies, the Ending Child and Youth Homelessness Coalition, have developed five actions aimed to help give every child and young person a safe place to call home.

Across WA, too many children and young people are facing homelessness without a parent or guardian to support them.

New data taken from one night – August 20, 2026 – showed that 114 unaccompanied young people were recorded as sleeping rough in Perth and Rockingham, yet there was nowhere for them to go, with zero youth accommodation beds available.

New data released on Monday, October 5, also found that over six months between January and June 2026, 19 youth accommodation services recorded 2,653 occasions where they were unable to provide a young person with accommodation because, in many instances, there were no beds available.

That means around 15 times a day a young person’s request for a safe place to sleep goes unmet.

The Ending Child and Youth Homelessness Coalition believes WA can do better. The 2027-28 State Budget is an opportunity to start building a system that prevents homelessness wherever possible, responds quickly when it happens and helps young people find a safe and stable home.

Representatives from the Ending Child and Youth Homelessness Coalition – which includes not-for-profits and peak bodies Vinnies WA, Youth Advisory Council of WA, Mission Australia WA, Indigo Junction, Shelter WA, Perth Inner City Youth Service, Anglicare WA and WACOSS – stood alongside frontline youth workers across the sector to officially launch their 2027-28 Pre-Budget Submission at Parliament House this month. 

Read the 2027-28 Pre Budget Submission here.

27/10/2026 MediaNewsNews and EventsPublicationWAAEH