Brooke Oliver's transition out of child protection was anything but smooth.

She said it was very clunky and traumatising, with little support and a lack of funding.

"I was not earning enough to make a living. I was just surviving pay check to pay check," Ms Oliver said.

And after a turbulent childhood, she had not learnt the skills she needed to transition into independent living.

In the years prior, she had experienced homelessness as a child and lived in more than 10 addresses across residential, foster and kinship care.

"It was rough. It was moment to moment. It was survival. Cold," she said.

"You felt less than everybody else.

She said she felt unsafe during childhood and admitted to stealing lunch orders from school just to eat.

Breaking the cycle

Now 27 and a lived experience worker, Ms Oliver credits her nan for encouraging her to pursue an education.

"She thought education was our way out to be able to be equal to everybody else," she said.

The Kaurna woman said more needed to be done to support at-risk youth to break the poverty and homelessness cycle.

Ms Oliver said the Centrelink Youth Allowance was not enough to live on and the cost-of-living was severely impacting young people.

"That's a failure, the state is supposed to support these people, upskill these people," she said.

Ms Oliver said she would like to see more affordable housing for young people, making independent living skills a priority for kids in the system, having support services extended past 21.

"You don't just age out of these systems," she said.

"They think we [young people] have the opportunities everybody has, we don't have the lived experience to go into private rentals, we don't have those things behind us."

Housing hurdles

Tyler, who asked for their last name to be omitted, was homeless and is now using their experience to help advocate for others in similar positions.

The 26-year-old, who uses he/they pronouns, said he was just nine years old when his family home burnt down.

He said he lived with a family member who was a "hoarder" and was unable to find a new house.

He said they faced homelessness again later in life and sought support from family violence services.

However, he said they did not meet his needs and he then became homeless.

"They weren't set up to care for a young person, let alone a young queer person," Tyler said.

Tyler said at that age he did not have the resources or skills to take care of himself or access housing.

"I wouldn't have known how or where to access it," Tyler said.

Tyler said being a "visibly queer" person meant he felt accessing safe share houses and rentals was a challenge for him and many in the LGBTQIA+ community.

He also lives with a disability in social housing, which he says is not accessible.

"The doors are heavy, the bathroom is not accessible, the laundry is up three flights of stairs," Tyler said.

Tyler said more needed to be done for kids in violent homes.

"We need crisis accommodation, short-term accommodation and accessible accommodation," Tyler said.

"Young people are coming out of violent homes … we're not choosing to be homeless.

"They need to be going to where they are support. That's the only way we can stop the cycle."

Supporting young people

A conference was held this week in Adelaide to highlight the issues surrounding youth homelessness and to urge the state, territory and federal governments to do more to address the housing crisis.

At the conference, campaigners from the Home Time campaign built 827 Lego houses — a representation of every unaccompanied 15-17-year-old child with nowhere to live in South Australia.

Shorna Moore, from the campaign backed by 140 organisations, said children and young people were being excluded from accessing social housing and the private rental market because they were "young" with low incomes.

She said young people at-risk were being told there was no housing for them.

"Every year almost 40,000 children and young people are turning up to homelessness services alone and in crisis … a lot of them are escaping violent homes," she said.

Ms Moore called for investment in a youth housing system, including 15,000 dedicated tenancies with support for young people.

She said it was also vital to address the rental gap that was creating barriers for housing providers.

The South Australian Acting Minister for Human Services, Katrine Hildyard, said the government funds five alliances to respond to the "complex and evolving needs" of people facing difficult times including youths.

"This comprises four regional homelessness alliances, and one state-wide domestic and family violence alliance," she said.

"The alliance approach involves multiple non-government partners coming together to develop integrated and effective support."