Homeless high schooler Tyler Palm describes couch surfing, working a job to stay afloat

Tyler Palm battled with depression and anxiety during their homeless years.  (ABC Radio Brisbane: Kenji Sato)

Tyler Palm was not sure if they would survive to adulthood when they became homeless at the age of 16.

Due to family problems, the non-binary high schooler left home and spent the next two years couch surfing with friends and co-workers while working a job to survive.

Tyler said being so reliant on the goodwill of others filled them with guilt, anxiety, and shame.

“Once I started feeling comfortable I felt embarrassed that I felt comfortable enough to be living in someone else’s home, knowing it’s only out of the kindness of their heart,” Tyler said.

“It’s hard to stay friends with people you live with while also knowing that on a fundamental level you need them.

“It’s hard to not take it personally when someone says ‘we can’t sustainably have you in our home anymore’.”

While finishing high school, Tyler worked as a swim teacher in the afternoons and on Saturdays, but the money was never enough to afford a place of their own.

Tyler’s couch-to-couch lifestyle only came to an end when they applied for the Logan Youth Foyer, which houses homeless and vulnerable 16 to 25-year-olds.

The government-funded foyers only accept those who are attempting to transition out of homelessness through work or education.

Tenants pay 25 per cent of their income on rent and receive a range of support services.

They fund vocational training and teach life skills, such as driving and cooking, with a view to getting tenants out in the workforce and fully independent.

However, only two such foyers exist in Queensland, with 80 beds available.

Not enough beds to go around

Logan Youth Foyer youth development worker Kristine Kallio said they were constantly having to turn people away.

She said at any given time there were at least 20 eligible applicants who were facing homelessness or family violence.

“Looking at someone on paper, saying ‘are you more needy than this person?’ and figuring out who to prioritise is really, really hard,” Ms Kallio said.

“There’s still 20 that are sitting there who are in dire need — couch surfing, domestic violence at home, about to be moved on from resi [residential care].”

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics census data shows the majority of homeless people are under the age of 30.

The Queensland government database shows there are 43,782 people on the social housing waiting list in March, 24,742 of whom are classified as in “very high” need.

Tyler said they initially felt guilty at the thought of “taking someone else’s place” given the sheer number of young homeless people.

The now 20-year-old is currently studying a Cert IV in school-based education support, with a view to becoming a teaching assistant or a teacher’s aide.

Tyler said they were the happiest they had ever been now they had the chance to chase their dreams and have a room of their own.

“It felt crazy to know I was going to be sleeping here for the foreseeable future,” they said.

“It was an extraordinarily intense shift from that fight or flight feeling, tiptoeing around the people who had let me stay.

“It was a huge relief.”

Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon said the government planned to build eight new youth foyers in the next 10 years.

She said they planned to build one each in Cairns, Moreton Bay, and Hervey Bay, with the other sites yet to be decided.

One in Townsville was supposed to be built in 2023 but is still under construction due to delays.

Ms Scanlon said the youth foyers in Logan and the Gold Coast had been highly effective.

“It’s hard to do well at school or uni, hold down a job, and plot out your future when you don’t have a safe place to stay,” Ms Scanlon said.

“Youth foyers aren’t just a bed to sleep in. They’re a place that provides wraparound support to study, get a good job, their own place, and eventually home ownership.”