The State’s first Housing First for Youth (HF4Y) purpose-built accommodation service was officially opened today.
Built in Midland, Yaakiny will enable Indigo Junction, to increase its level of support to 44 beds, with accommodation options to suit young people ranging from beds with 24/7 support, independent units with access to 24/7 support and community-based units.
Yaakiny is a Noongar word meaning ‘standing tall’, the service is designed to respond to the need for safe housing and support as young people work towards stability and independence.
Yaakiny will represent an expansion to Indigo Junction’s existing youth homelessness accommodation service, Youth House, as well as a change in service model to become a HF4Y service.
The HF4Y program is supported by significant State Government investment including:
- Lotterywest support of over $5 million to enable refurbishment of existing premises
- $4.2 million in 2022 for capital works under the Community Housing New Build Grant program through Department of Housing and Works
- 2026/27 State Budget $20.3 million for additional accommodation and support for young people experiencing or at-risk of homelessness. This funding will supplement the Department of Communities $29 million investment in 2025-26 on youth homelessness services.
The HF4Y model is predicated on supporting a young person to obtain and maintain housing as the foundation for all other support. Accommodation or housing is not time limited, the focus in a HF4Y service is on meeting the young person ‘where they are at’ and building the young person’s natural supports to create sustainable change.
Additionally, the State Government will continue to support measures such as the Youth at Risk Strategy, the Pilot Youth Psychological Support Packages, Pilot Youth Transitional Housing and Support Program, Ngatti House and Momentum QP.
Yaakiny builds on the All Paths Lead to a Home: Western Australia’s 10-Year Strategy on Homelessness 2020-2030 (the Strategy) to improve the outcomes of vulnerable West Australians experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness.
The Housing First approach is a key foundation of the Strategy’s systemic change needed to end chronic homelessness in Western Australia.
The accommodation services provided by Yaakiny accommodation support the Strategy’s vision that “everyone has a safe place to call home and is supported to achieve stable and independent lives.
For more information visit the Indigo Junction website.
