The Youth Homelessness Taskforce in Melton

In 1989, the-then Victorian State Labour Government, Australia initiated the Youth Homelessness Taskforce in response to Our Homeless Children, the report of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (1989). This paper describes the rapidly developing outer urban community of Melton, and the work of the Youth Homelessness Taskforce in Melton. The authors characterise that work as community intervention. They place this approach within the context of other approaches to community work, and analyse its impact on Melton. It is unlikely that all of the conditions of the establishment of the Taskforce in Melton will ever be replicated, but reflections on our experience may prove useful in designing strategies for human services in other developing communities.