A huge thank you to the amazing team of volunteers at Qualtrics for helping us transform a single storey, two-bedroom property for a 19-year-old single mother with two children under the age of two.
Six employees from Qualtrics, which helps organisations improve their customer and employee experience, put up their hands to transform the property as part of their annual volunteering inititiative, XM Day.
Armed with gardening tools and a positive attitude, they participated in a volunteering day, where they assisted in:
Painting the living room
Moving a new couch into the newly painted living room
Pruning and tidying up the garden
Patching up a couple of dents in the walls
Revamping the kitchen
Tidying up the garage and car port
Taking rubbish to Kimbriki Resource Recovery Centre
Scrubbing the bathroom to remove mould
Removing plastic bottles and recycling them
The generous team also donated two car seats for the children, children’s clothes, toys, new towels, new cushions and a rug, and stationery to help the young mother with their TAFE studies.
Doctor Cecila Herbert from Qualtrics also went the extra mile and donated plants from her own garden and planted them in the property’s garden.
Thank you Qualtrics, your team of volunteers have truly made a difference in this young mother’s life and we couldn’t be more grateful! This is why we do what we do!
And finally, a big shout out of thanks to Bunnings Warringah Mall for donating paint, that provided the living room with a new lease on life.
If your organisation or business would like to volunteer with The Burdekin Association, check out our volunteering opportunities here. We’d love to hear from you.
Do you feel your finances are stretched more than ever? You’re not alone.
Many of us are noticing that we’re trying to stretch our finances further than ever before. With living costs on the climb, it’s an everyday reality that’s biting into our budgets. From groceries to fuel – we’re feeling the impact.
Cost of living, inflation pressures and rising rental stress are pushing more people into homelessness at a time when there’s very limited availability of affordable homes to rent,” says Sharon Mallister, CEO of Mission Australia.
Sharon Callister, CEO of Mission Australia.
Two in five households that receive CRA experience rental distress
The Productivity Commission’s latest Report on Government Services (released January 2024) shows that 42.9 per cent, or two in five households are experiencing rental stress despite receiving Commonwealth Rental Assistance (CRA).
People on low incomes are particularly susceptible to housing instability, due to higher private housing prices.
In 2019 – 2020, 52.5 per cent of lower income households were experiencing rental stress (paying more than 30 per cent of gross household income or housing costs.)
Alongside rental distress, relationship breakdown (including domestic and family violence), increased the risk of homelessness and the need for social housing. Interpersonal and relationship issues was the reason 49 per cent of people sought specialist homelessness services. Of these, 73.3 per cent identified as domestic and family violence.
Mental health, medical issues or problematic substance abuse accounted for why 24.1 per cent of people accessed specialist homelessness services. Disability, alcohol and drug misuse and unemployment were also contributing factors.
“Housing has become a burning issue for Australians both for those who could not afford a home and for those worrying about their children,” Former NSW Premier Dominic Perrotet said while giving a talk to the Property Council of NSW in mid February 2024.
Unfortunately, housing instability and homelessness can increase vulnerability to worse economic circumstances, through “poorer outcomes in education, employment and health and increased risk of involvement with the justice system,” the Productivity Report states.
Students dropping out of high school
The Productivity Commission’s Report on education services (issued January 2024) has found that 79 per cent of students in government high schools completed Year 12, compared to 83.3 per cent five years earlier. For non-government schools, the proportion who finish was a healthier 87.2 per cent. This is the lowest retention rate in high schools over the last 10 years.
The HSC attainment rates increased as socio-economic status increased. And, across remote areas in Australia, the attainment rates were substantially lower in very remote areas compared to other areas.
The Productivity Commission report also suggested that enrolments at universities were continuing to trend downwards too. According to Lenore Taylor’s report in ‘The Guardian’, nationally in 2023, 65.7 per cent of people between 20 and 64 had a qualification at certificate III level or above, down from 66.2 per cent in 2022.
What can be done?
Address the inequality for the young people in our care.
Disadvantaged students have been found on average to be two to three years behind in reading and maths compared to their peers, and the likelihood is that they will earn less income and could become unemployed in the future.
The Burdekin Association’s targeted educational support assists children and young people in our Out of Home Care program who are unable to engage in their local school, but excel when provided with customised support, improving their access to opportunities such as employment, healthcare, housing, family and community.
Our Housing, Support and Community Intervention services provide support to children and young people between the age of 9 and 24.
Our Model of Careis innovative and based on extensive research and an understanding that the needs of the young people we assist are far greater than just providing safe accommodation.
Our program areas are focused on disrupting the risk factors within our community. Our programs and support results in 95 per cent of our young people being engaged in education or employment.
Learn more about the success of our programs here.
We have some exciting news! Our residence in Manly was recently refurbished to welcome three new young people, after five months of hard work on the property.
In collaboration with three volunteers from ReLove and four volunteers from Stockland volunteering on their Social Responsibility Day, we were able to furnish the rooms and the living spaces of the property. One of the volunteers fortuitously was an Interior Designer who was able to help with determining the layout of the rooms.
ReLove rescues furniture and whitegoods from their corporate partners and community and delivers it directly to people who need a helping hand. They transported the furniture to our property, and supported us with assembling/organising the furniture.
Stockland is a community partner of The Burdekin Association and four of their employees assisted with the refurbishment of the premises. It was an incredibly uplifting experience where collaboration, positivity and interagency support were demonstrated in full! They helped make the process an effective and a positive one for all involved.
There are now three young people living in the property and enjoying the premises. Each of them were empowered to become directly involved, choosing their own furniture for their bedrooms from ReLove and furnishing the property.
Best of all, each of the young people received a ‘welcome booklet’ to welcome them to their new home, and were encouraged to organise how they wanted to live in the property.
One of the young people came with their grandmother to share dinner at the premises, see the property and become familiar with it, setting down roots.
Staff from Stockland and ReLove assisted with the renovation and refurbishment of the property in Manly.
Many helpers make light work!
The bedroom makeover, with new furniture.
The living room with new furniture and soft furnishings.
The Burdekin Association is excited to reveal that we are the recipient of a FutureSteps Grant of $89,000 to be spent on renovating one of the houses we manage for young people transitioning from out of home care to semi-independent living in Sydney. The grant will help three additional young people transition into semi-independent living through the better use of space in the property.
What is FutureSteps?
FutureSteps is a Lendlease Social Impact Fund that’s grounded in the belief that everyone needs to call a place home. Lendlease partners with The Burdekin Association to achieve long term impact through increasing the availability of safe and appropriate housing, the number of pathways to education and employment, and participation in the community.
The FutureSteps Social Impact Fund focuses on addressing homelessness and increasing housing supply for those at risk of or experiencing homelessness. The grants typically awarded range in amounts between $20,000 and $100,000 and one of their target groups includes young people.
It all came about on Community Day – a day when Lendlease volunteers spend their time and skills to make a difference in the communities where they live and work. Thirty volunteers spent a day at our property doing painting, gardening, picture hanging, furniture building and much more in Stanmore. Katherine Bushell from Lendlease suggested that we apply for the FutureSteps grant. It took us one month to put it all together.
Claire Oxlade, Property and Asset Lead at The Burdekin Association
“Our tradie, Kevin, looked at our plans to reconfigure the layout of the space at the property to accommodate three more young people. He suggested that it would work,” continued Claire.
During the grant application process, we submitted the property’s plans, renovation costings, and explained how we would reconfigure the layout of the property to create the extra space for an additional three young people in our care. For Lendlease to give us the entire grant – $89,000 – is amazing! We will be able to use the space more sensibly.
Claire Oxlade, Property and Asset Lead at The Burdekin Association
A self-contained two-bedroom unit can now be created at the front of the property. This reconfiguration will help to provide wraparound care for the young person living there – as they will remain close to staff and the other young people living in the remainder of the house, but also have space to themselves. It will potentially be perfect for a young single parent, who may need support, but also privacy and quiet.
The reconfiguration will also involve the renovation of the current staff office space and combined kitchen into a studio staff office / bedroom / kitchenette.
Claire Oxlade in the area to be renovatedThe front office to become solely a bedroomThe current living roomClaire Oxlade stands where a new bedroom could be positioned The current staff office and kitchen. The current staff office and kitchen.
“The staff at the property use the office a great deal, and renovating the current space to allow them to work and then be able to sleep overnight in a comfortable area will make such a difference,” Claire continued.
A staff bedroom upstairs at the property will then be released, to be used by an additional young person.
The project has enthused local architect and sessional academic, Jamileh Jahangiri of Orsi Architecture Studio, who met with Burdekin staff members during a recent networking event. She has offered to provide her architectural knowledge free of charge and will project manage the renovation of the property. Jamileh will provide concept designs, design briefs and a schedule of proposed materials and finishes and furniture layouts. She is keen to see how the young residents can be involved in the renovation process – choosing paint colours, designing the layout of the rooms, and learning a bit of design along the way.
If there are funds remaining once these renovations are complete, we hope to remove the kitchen cabinets, making the main kitchen more open plan, allowing for ‘Master Chef’ style cooking workshops to be held for the young people.
It’s so exciting. We wouldn’t normally be able to do anything like this. If we can make it more homely, well that’s my mission accomplished
Claire Oxlade, Property and Asset Lead at The Burdekin Association
What next?
The Burdekin Association is always looking for suppliers of white goods – fridges, washing machines, dryers, microwaves, air fryers and blenders, along with coffee tables, BBQs, outdoor furniture and kitchen utensils – to help our young people live comfortably in such a home. To donate a white good or to help our young people, please click here.
The Burdekin Association’s Patron and Australia’s first Federal Human Rights Commissioner, Professor Brian Burdekin AO spent over 30 years advocating for the needs of children – those with disabilities and mental illness.
He led two landmark reports: ‘National Inquiry into Youth Homelessness’ in 1989 and ‘Human Rights and Mental Illness’ in 1993.
He recently spoke with Andy Park, Presenter of the Drawing Room on Radio National about youth homelessness.
Key highlights of the radio interview:
More than 40,000 young Australians spend each night without a home, and 18,000 of these are under the age of 12 (according to the most recent official Australian Census estimates).
Professor Burdekin’s mother’s career had a dramatic influence on him and his ambitions for advocating for children with disabilities. He witnessed first-hand her experience of raising five children, attending university and being a teacher of students with disabilities.
He realised that as one of the wealthiest countries in the world, Australia still (in the mid 1980’s) had systemic discrimination against the hundreds of thousands of children who lived with disabilities and also people with mental illnesses.
He was named as Australia’s first Federal Human Rights Commissioner in 1986 and described Australians’ knowledge of human rights in Australia at the time as “being appalling”. He advised that 95 per cent of Australians at the time didn’t know what human rights were about, as the government had done “nothing about informing the general public that international treaties had been signed and were binding in international law in relation to the conventions on elimination of discrimination against women and the elimination of racial discrimination.”
He deplored the fact that Australia was the only country of 65 common law countries that did not have a Bill of Rights in their Constitution or federal legislation.
“My advice to the Federal Government (to ensure that children and young people aren’t overlooked) is to have a national housing plan, to put more money into social housing, and to develop a specific holistic plan for homeless children and young people, as their pathways into homelessness are often different. The holistic plan should include life skills training, opportunities for education and housing.”
Professor Burdekin AO, Patron of The Burdekin Association
Further key highlights of the radio interview:
He went on to advise that The Burdekin Association is looking after a rapidly increasing number of homeless children – children that don’t have any adult to care for them or to protect them.
Australia has almost the lowest rate of social housing in the world – only 3.9 per cent of available housing stock.
He stated that 122,000 Australians are currently homeless, of which 18,000 people are under the age of 12, and that early intervention and prevention – assisting families that are in trouble, that are stressed out, that can’t make ends meet – is more cost effective as well as more appropriate for protecting human rights.
Following the ‘National Inquiry into Youth Homelessness’, Professor Burdekin bought an apartment block of eight units in Forster Tuncurry, on the NSW North Coast, and worked with the Mayor of Taree and the St Vincent De Paul Society, to look after and house homeless young people and children. During the time, he learnt the necessity of keeping young people in their local area, that private businesses are often willing to help financially, and the importance of keeping children in touch with their community.
He emphasized that 84 per cent of children currently being assisted by The Burdekin Association have mental health problems and many homeless children have undiagnosed mental health problems.
We acknowledge the Aboriginal people of the Cadigal and Gayamaygal Clans. We acknowledge the Country on which we live, work, and gather as being Aboriginal land.
We acknowledge the lands, waterways and skies that are connected to Aboriginal people. We honour them and pay our deepest respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
We respect their rightful place within our communities, and we value their ancient cultural knowledge and practices.
We deeply respect that this will always be Aboriginal land and we will honour and follow the first peoples’ values in caring for the Country and for preserving their culture.
We deeply value that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the oldest living culture in the world and we will continue to work with their peoples and communities to ensure their cultures endure and remain strong.
