A divine reimagining of a former church site will create much-needed, safe accommodation for at-risk youth in the hinterland.
Federal Member for Fairfax Ted O’Brien and the Integrated Family and Youth Service (IFYS) will on Thursday formally open The Old Church youth accommodation program for homeless young people who are transitioning out of homelessness.
IFYS refurbished the former Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints complex in McKay Street, Nambour, into 21 rooms for young people in need.
SUBSCRIBE here now for our FREE news feed, direct to your inbox daily.
The project aimed to fill a void in accommodation options for young people trying to transition from homelessness.
IFYS already operates a six-bed crisis facility for young people in need on the Sunshine Coast, and a further five beds in Caboolture.
The Old Church provides young people with safe accommodation, as well as services that enable positive education and employment outcomes, to help them build careers and transition into their own accommodation.
Mr O’Brien announced $790,834 in Federal Government funding towards the project in April last year to provide support for residents, with a particular focus on ‘learning and earning’ activities to strengthen a young person’s employment options.
“It’s great to see an old building, which once provided important spiritual guidance, now providing a fresh start for at-risk youth who have found themselves in the terrible situation of being homeless,” Mr O’Brien said.
IFYS managing director Tony Pignata said a safe and caring environment was vital to help young people live and build better lives, and become active and functioning members of our community.
“We know that if you don’t have a safe place to sleep, you can’t address education issues, you can’t address mental health, you can’t address physical health – it’s just not possible,” he said.
“A young person living in this style of accommodation knows they have a safe place for up to two years, and that can really propel them on to do incredible things when it comes to learning or earning.
“They could complete all sorts of certificates inside of two years. They could be almost finished a second-year apprenticeship, just to name a few items that are possible.
“The idea beyond that is to work with them to gain greater independence by moving into their own accommodation.
“The Old Church will provide them a very stable base to address all these aspects of their lives.”
The official opening is at 11am on June 29.
For more information on IFYS visit the website.
Local journalists supporting local people. Help keep independent and fair Sunshine Coast news coming by subscribing to our FREE daily news feed. All it requires is your name and email at the bottom of this article.
