Wednesday, 4 March 2026

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (18:57): (2374) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Housing and Building. The action that I seek is for the minister to commit to allocating funding in the 2026–27 state budget to build and operate an Education First Youth Foyer in Bendigo. Education First Youth Foyers provide an incredibly valuable service that can change the life of a young person at risk of becoming homeless or dropping out of education. Youth foyers support vulnerable young people by giving them a place to live in return for their commitment to staying in education, training or work. It provides more than just a place to sleep. It integrates accommodation with education, connects students with learning and work opportunities and provides a peer community and network of support workers to help develop life skills. The Victorian government has recognised the importance of youth foyers and agreed in principle with recommendation 92 of the Victorian Infrastructure Plan 2021, which recommended that the state government fund at least six new youth foyers in regional Victoria by 2026 to better use existing education infrastructure and support vulnerable young people.

I have repeatedly advocated in Parliament for the government to invest in an Education First Youth Foyer for young people in Bendigo, but progress under the Allan Labor government has been slow. I met with Bendigo TAFE executives in 2024, and they had already identified a building suited for rapid refurbishment and were excited about the prospect of being the educational partner for an Education First Youth Foyer in their city. When I asked the minister to fund the youth foyer in Bendigo, the minister took seven months to provide a response and eventually informed me that Homes Victoria was in discussion with a potential operator. Since then nothing has been heard about the project, and I am worried that, just like Labor’s other housing programs, it has fallen off the radar and young people in Bendigo are missing out because of Labor’s incompetence and mismanagement.

Education First Youth Foyers are proven to work. A five-year study of the first three youth foyers showed that the model substantively improved participants’ education, employment and housing outcomes. I was the housing minister in the Baillieu Liberal government responsible for establishing Victoria’s first three Education First Youth Foyers, and I am always immensely proud when I hear the success stories of students who have benefited from a youth foyer. Young people in Bendigo deserve their chance to benefit from this service too, and with rising rents causing housing stress among families, the risk of young people becoming homeless and dropping out of education is higher than ever. This project is absolutely vital for the city of Bendigo, and it is imperative that Labor shows some urgency and moves beyond discussion to action. The minister must allocate funding in the 2026–27 state budget for an Education First Youth Foyer in Bendigo.