The Wire

A new national campaign was launched today for Youth Homelessness Matters Day, to be held on April 14. State and federal ministers joined the Youth Accomodation Association to shine a light on Australia’s 44 000 young homeless, the majority of which do not sleep rough but couch surf. The event intends to raise awareness of their plight and to celebrate their resilience, but it has also drawn into focus the Rudd government’s pledge to halve the number of homeless in Australia by 2020—a target that is still a very long way off.