Our organisation promotes and seeds a unique solution to support young people who have experienced homelessness – the ‘Foyer’ approach– fusing stable housing with learning opportunities. More than a ‘roof over my head’, foyers in each state provide 16 to 25 year olds with accommodation while they study, work and develop skills to achieve independence.
The Foyer Foundation is an independent charity, working in partnership with the national anti-poverty group the Brotherhood of St Laurence, to advocate for a unique solution to the challenge of youth homelessness and unemployment in Australia. Foyers – there are currently 17 of them around the country – house teenagers and young adults who don’t have the support of family and are homeless or at risk of being homeless. Many are leaving the child protection system.
There were 27,780 young people aged 12-24 year olds who were homeless on Census night. This figure includes youth forced to sleep rough in our cities, suburbs and regional areas, those in crisis accommodation or ‘couch surfing’. The Foyer Foundation aims to promote and grow the Foyer housing support model as a response to this deep challenge.
A “Foyer” is more than another building or traditional welfare program, though. It taps into the goals and ambitions of young people and nurtures their talents while building practical skills for life. A young person accommodated in a Foyer has stable housing for upto two years while agreeing to study and or work and take up other learning and personal growth opportunities. This ‘deal’ is central to the success of the innovative youth housing support model.
Foyer Accreditation and Framework
The Foyer Accreditation and Framework is a quality assurance framework that demonstrates your Foyer invests in young people’s assets, talents and potential. This framework is both a developmental tool for services to evaluate and strengthen Advantaged Thinking practice and a quality assurance system that can be a powerful resource for demonstrating impact and value to stakeholders.
More about Accreditation and Fidelity Framework
Locations
In Australia, there are 17 Foyers or Foyer-like youth accommodation services across all states and territories except the Northern Territory. These Foyers support between 18 to 98 young people using varying accommodation models, including congregate facilities, dispersed housing, and networked or mixed accommodation options
All Foyer locations