Upton Road Youth Services
If you're aged 16–25, we offer a safe, nurturing and inclusive space to embrace your identity, deepen your connection to community and achieve your goals.
Upton Road Youth Services also works with young families who are experiencing homelessness or housing instability.
Together with your case manager and the Upton Road support team, you can work on:
- Achieving your individual goals
- Securing sustainable housing — this may include short-term accommodation, supported accommodation or private rental
- Accessing housing information and funding
- Accessing or maintaining education and employment
- Health and wellbeing — including pregnancy, mental health and recovery from substance use
- Life and living skills such as cooking, cleaning, budgeting and money management
- Social inclusion and participation
- Relationships such as family reconciliation and developing parenting skills and secure attachment with your children
- Legal issues
- Accessing other specialised services relevant to your goals
What we offer
Upton Road Youth Refuge
Upton Road provides stable and safe accommodation within a 24-hour staffed refuge setting.
Support includes:
- 8 weeks of crisis accommodation
- Your own clean, furnished and secure unit, surrounded by beautiful, edible gardens.
- A range of innovative programs to help you build skills, identify your goals and live well during your stay.
Want more information? Please download our Upton Road Welcome Booklet.
Outreach case management
This is a flexible and non-judgmental service to assist you in making community links and building a supportive network. This is a good option for those who don’t want to reside in refuge accommodation.
We can provide short-term and long-term case management to young people with or without children aged 16–25 who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness and have connections in inner south Melbourne.
How to access support: we accept referrals though housing entry points such as Launch Housing St Kilda, Launch Housing Cheltenham, Frontyard Youth Services and The Salvation Army St Kilda Crisis Centre.
As a government-funded Specialist Homelessness Service, all professional referrals require a completed Initial Assessment and Planning referral form.
Education and employment pathways and accommodation
Prior to being considered for education and employment accommodation, all referrals must complete a two to four-week stay at Upton Road.
If approved for a 12-to-18 month tenancy, support includes:
- A case manager to help develop a case plan, liaise with education services, access tutoring and homework support.
- A range of interesting short courses to help you build skills and confidence to return to study or find a job.
What happens after the program? You will be able to access Youth Private Rental Brokerage to secure your own independent private rental tenancy.
Yarrinup Parenting Program
This program aims to assist young families with transitioning out of homelessness and into independent living. It has three two-bedroom units in Chadstone that provide supported accommodation for parents and children.
Prior to being considered for this program, all referrals must complete a two to four-week stay at Upton Road.
While living in these properties, you will receive 12 months of onsite support with:
- A case manager
- The Upton Road specialist children’s worker or families’ worker
- The life and living skills worker.
If you are a young parent experiencing or at risk of homelessness, the program helps you to build the skills and confidence to parent and support your child's development.
Upton Road Life and Living Skills Program
This program encourages independence, supporting you with making choices in your everyday life and participating with confidence in the day-to-day activities of your home.
Our Life and Living Skills worker helps you:
- develop a tailored support plan which can include skills like cooking on a budget, cleaning your home, healthy eating, exercise and living well.
This program is based at the Upton Road Youth Refuge. We can also facilitate groups on and offsite.
Upton Road Social Inclusion Program
This program creates education and employment opportunities for young people who are interested in customer service, gardening and hospitality. Profits generated by the Social Inclusion program are used to fund youth participation activities such as school holiday programs.
Opportunities include:
- Participating in the social enterprise program at the monthly Upton Road Plant and Seedling Sale
- Some ongoing and paid positions in the program
-
Making coffee and customer service at our Upton Road coffee cart
-
Participating in the Upton Road Gardening Program.
The Youth Private Rental Access Program
This program supports young people and families to establish and maintain an independent or shared private rental tenancy.
The YPRAP worker will help with:
- finding a realistic housing option which may include a private share house
- accessing financial assistance in the form of brokerage packages to support with bond, removalist fees, rent and setting up a new home
- attending house inspections and interviews, speaking with real estate agents, potential housemates and completing rental applications
- developing knowledge and understanding of the private rental market and gaining necessary documentation.
- facilitating Housing Clubs which are workshops or info sessions about tenancy and the private rental market.
Please contact us for details about Housing Clubs and eligibility requirements for a YPRAP brokerage package.
Are you referring a young person to YPRAP? Complete the application form and email it to us.
We cover a wide area of the inner south region of Melbourne:
- Melbourne City
- Port Phillip
- Stonnington
- Bayside
- Glen Eira
- Kingston
Don't live in one of these areas in Melbourne?
Our staff
The team includes:
- Social workers
- After hours support workers
- Clinical psychologist
- Youth participation worker
- Drug and alcohol counsellor
- Life and living skills worker
- Education specialist
- Children's specialist worker
- Youth private rental access (YPRAP) worker
Our commitment
When using our service, you can expect:
- Access — I feel supported to access the services I need
- Safety — I feel safe physically and emotionally
- Communication — I am communicated with clearly and in a way which meets my needs
- Privacy — I am asked for consent and my privacy is respected
- Participation — I can actively participate in decision-making and planning processes about my future
- Respect — I am treated fairly and with dignity
- Heard — I can raise my concerns and my feedback will be taken seriously
We are proud at Upton Road to have been a Rainbow Tick accredited service since 2017. We value and include people of all sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions and intersex status. We are committed to providing programs that are fully inclusive.