There may be many reasons why you may have to move out of home but whatever the reason it there are all different kinds of things that you need to consider. Listed below is emergency accommodation and information crucial about moving out of home.

Emergency Accommodation

Due to this information constantly changing the most up to date website is www.yaa.com.au. They have a list of all the refuges and they can help you find a place or call the hotline on:  1800 424 830
You can call the Homeless Persons hotline on 1800 234 566 or after 5pm call them on 1800 152 152.

Bowral Youth Refuge is for both males and females aged 15 to 18 years. They offer 24 hour 7 day supervised accommodation for up to 3 months you can find out if they have any vacancies through the Homeless persons number or call 4861 3400

Vinnies Youth Housing provides medium to long term shared accommodation for single males and females aged 16- to 21 and sole parents up to 24 years of age in the Macarthur and Wollondilly Area. Further information can be provided by contacting the service on 4677 2186 or email admin@vinniesyouthhousing.ngo.org.au

Argyle Housing
Is a community housing provider which means we assist people who are in housing stress such as low to moderate incomes find secure affordable accommodation. For more information contact Argyle Housing using the details listed below.
Phone: 4861 2753
Fax: 02 4861 2592
Email: Bowral@argylehousing.com.au
Website: www.argylehousing.com.au
Address: level 1 32-36 Wingecarribee street Bowral NSW 2576

Wollongong Youth Refuge: 4228 1946

Illawarra Youth Housing who help with medium term accommodation
4227 1266

Leaving Home

There are multiple different reasons why people decide to leave home. The most important thing that you move out you need to ensure that when you move into a new home that it is a safe environment. If you are thinking of moving out you should check out www.reachout.com.au there is a heap of useful information on here.

Renting/Sharing

The first thing you need to consider when moving out of home is all of the costs involved.

Lease Agreements

A lease agreement is not something that costs you money. If you are under the age of 18 you may not be able to sign the agreement as it is a legal document. A lease agreement is something that states you will pay your rent on time and look after the property and keep it in the state in which you first moved in. It also means that the landlord or real estate will fix anything that stops working properly. You must make sure that you ALWAYS read the lease before you sign it and if you don’t understand the conditions ask the real estate agent before you sign the document. A lease agreement can be for 3, 6 or 12 months. For more information about lease agreements go to: www.moneystuff.net.au

$ Bond $

A bond is an amount of money which is paid upon moving into your new home. It acts as security in case there is any damage to the property or the rent isn’t paid. The way bond is worked out using the following: if you have moved into an unfurnished place the bond will be 4 lots of your normal rent, and if you have moved into a furnished place the bond is 6 lots of your normal rent.  You can contact the Department of Housing they might be able to help with some of the bond money www.housing.nsw.gov.au contact your local youth centre they should be able to give you more info on places that can help out with bond money.

$ Weekly Rent $
Even if you are sharing a house and sharing the rent with someone there may be some weeks where your ‘mates’ just cannot possibly pay their share of the rent so you pay it for them. You need to try not to get behind because it’s really hard to try and catch up, and sometimes you ‘mates’ may just continually have no money to be able to pay for they rent so you find yourself paying the whole amount each time. You should try and avoid this because your ‘mates’ may be taking advantage of you.

$ Electricity or Gas $
When getting electricity or gas there is a connection fee involved and the amount depends on which company you connect with.

$ Appliances $
When you move out of home you will need appliance such as a fridge, a washing machine, television, stereo and loads more. How much your bill is will depend on how your stuff is, it is generally said that the older your appliances are the more it costs to run them.

$ Phone $
When you move into your new home most of the time you will need to get a land line unless you are just going to use you mobile which in most cases is highly unlikely. You have to think will you still have the money to pay for your mobile as well as having to get a land line.

$ Food $
Food is more expensive than people think. If you’re sharing how will the cost of food be shared, if you buy all of the food separately how will you keep it separate so that someone else doesn’t eat your food. Will you have to go to the extent of labelling al of your food? These are just some of the many things that you need to consider.

$ Car $
Have you got a car? Well if you don’t how are you going to get where you need to go? Is you new home going to be close to public transport? And if you do have a car you have to make sure that you budget for that. Having a car means that you will have to pay for things such as: petrol, rego, maintenance etc. So don’t forget to budget for them.

You can also contact the Tenants Union on
www.tenants.org.au

Other links that might be helpful
www.communityhousing.org.au
www.youth.nsw.gov.au

Another helpful website for working out your budget is www.moneyminded.com.au/tools/default.asp