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Laurie Matthews

Laurence Charles Matthews (born 1956), is a housing rights activist who founded Caretakers Cottage a youth homelessness service in Sydney, Australia and currently serves as CEO.[1][2][3][4] Laurie was also a founding member Yfoundations, a peak body organisation for youth homelessness in New South Wales.[5] and has served on the Yfoundations board for a number of years between 1989 and 2011.[6]: 26–28 [7]: 4 [8]: 4 

Laurie Matthews OAM
Born1956
Camperdown, New South Wales
NationalityAustralian
EducationNewington College
OccupationCEO founder Caretakers Cottage
SpouseSara Matthews
ParentRev. Rex & Gwen Matthews

Laurie also serves on the board of Southern Youth and Family Services, a homelessness service based in Wollongong, New South Wales.[9]

Biography

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Laurie Matthews is the son of Reverend Rex Matthews and Gwenneth Joy ("Gwen") Matthews. Laurie is married to Sara Matthews and has two brothers and one sister.[10] Laurie was born in Camperdown and his family moved to the Eastern Suburbs around 1970. Laurie attended Newington College and began working after school in his local neighbourhood at the Holdsworth Street Playground (now Holdsworth Community Centre). Under his father's influence, Laurie began working in the social welfare sector.[11]

Laurie's father, Rex Matthews, was the minister of the Uniting Church in Paddington,[12] chaplain at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Camperdown Children's Hospital, as well as a journalist and news sub-editor for The Australian.[13][14]: 2 

Laurie's brother Peter Matthews also served on the board of Yfoundations, from 1982-83 as treasurer and 1984 as a board member.[6]: 26 

Career

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Caretakers Cottage

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Main article: Caretakers Cottage

Laurie together with his wife Sara Matthews, founded the Caretakers Cottage youth refuge in 1977.[1][3]: 23 [4] At the time, funding for the refuge came from the parish's Village Church Centre, however, Laurie and Sara ran the refuge for little and often no pay.[12] Laurie later assumed the role of CEO of the organisation.

Laurie had previously helped set up a local teen drop-in centre ("The Club") from 1972 until it merged into Caretakers Cottage several years later.[15]

Phone-A-Home

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In the early 1980s, Laurie had established an accommodation referral service, "Phone-A-Home," utilizing a computerized system of shared accommodation options in the local area. The project allowed callers to seek accommodation while filtering for particular preferences such as "non-smokers, vegetarians, same musical interests."[16]

Other organisations

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In addition to serving as CEO of Caretakers Cottage, Laurie also serves on the board of Southern Youth and Family Services, a service based in Wollongong.[9] Mr. Matthews was also a founding member Yfoundations, a peak body organisation for youth homelessness in New South Wales,[5] and has served on its board during the years of 1989, 1997, 2003 through 2008,[6]: 26–28  2010,[7]: 4  and 2011.[8]: 4 

In the media

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Laurie Matthews has been cited by the Australian media throughout his career on issues of youth homelessness. His statements in the press include the prevalence of drug use among homeless youth,[17] the lack of accommodation for homeless youth under the age of 16,[18] on the close link between youth issues with the Ministry for Education (as opposed to the Ministry for Community Services),[19] on the placement of (and the high costs associated with 24-hour supervision of) children in temporary hotel accommodation, following closure of the Ormond and Minali institutions (the last two state-run institutions for children in New South Wales),[20][21] and on the closure of the Kings Cross and Central Sydney Adolescent Unit (KXCSAU), a service opened by the Department of Family and Community Services in 1986 and threatened with closure in 2012.[22][23][24]

Awards

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In 2015, Laurie Matthews was awarded with a Lifetime Achievement Award by Youth Action, a peak body organisation for young people and youth services in New South Wales.[25]

In 2017, he was awarded an Australia Day Community Service Award by Randwick City Council.[26]

January 2019 Laurie was awarded an Order of Australia Medal OAM

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Berryman, Nancy. "Couple Run a Refuge for Teenagers." The Sun Herald. 29 July 1979
  2. ^ Howe, Megan. "Paddington Youth Refuge Faces The Threat Of Eviction." Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. 10 November 1988.
  3. ^ a b Legge, Kate. "The Attack on Parental Power." The Weekend Australian. August 13–14, 1994.
  4. ^ a b Karp, Paul and Michael Safi "How Sydney's overheated housing market keeps young people on the streets." The Guardian. Saturday 13 February 2016.
  5. ^ a b Coffey, Michael. "What Ever Happened to the Revolution? Activism and the Early Days of Youth Refuges in NSW." Parity. Volume 19, Issue 10. Another Country: Histories of Homelessness. Council to Homeless Persons. (2006): 23-25.
  6. ^ a b c Annual Report 2009. Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Youth Accommodation Association. 2009
  7. ^ a b Annual Report 2010. Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine Youth Accommodation Association. 2010.
  8. ^ a b Annual Report 2011. Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Yfoundations. 2011.
  9. ^ a b "Our Board." Southern Youth and Family Services. Accessed 1 June 2015.
  10. ^ "Gwenneth Matthews Notice." Sydney Morning Herald. 14 October 2014. Accessed 10 June 2015.
  11. ^ Giuffré, Melanie. "Bondi Local Profile: Laurie Matthews.". Bondi Fresh Daily. 18 December 2015. Accessed 28 April,, 2016.
  12. ^ a b Berryman, Nancy. "Reverend Rex Battling On." The Sydney Morning Herald. 2 November 1980. Fairfax Media.
  13. ^ "Minister of Many Parts". The Paddington Paper Vol. 3, No. 9. September 1974.
  14. ^ Learmonth, Anne. "Men of God cross paths on the Oz." Limited News February, 1986.
  15. ^ Bub, Adam. "Hope for the Homeless." SX News. Wednesday, 7 May 2008.
  16. ^ Macken, Deirdre. "Phone-A-Home." The Age. 14 May 1984.
  17. ^ Tedeschi, Claire. "Drugs: Are Kids Waking Up?" The Sydney Morning Herald. 28 June 1981.
  18. ^ Matthews, Laurie. "Talk Won't Get The Young Off The Streets." The Sydney Morning Herald. 18 October 1993. Accessed 29 February 2016.
  19. ^ Hatfield, Louisa. "Xed out." The Sydney Morning Herald. 5 April 1995. Accessed 29 February 2016
  20. ^ "ACWA News: Newsletter of the Association of Childrens Welfare Agencies." Archived 2016-03-14 at the Wayback Machine Association of Childrens Welfare Agencies.July 2000.
  21. ^ Horin, Adele. "DOCS pays thousands to keep troubled teens in hotels." The Sydney Morning Herald. Monday, February 22, 1999.
  22. ^ "Kings Cross caseworkers walk out today." Public Service Association. 23 August 2012.
  23. ^ "NSW Government abolishes specialist Kings Cross Adolescent Unit." Public Service Association. 23 May 2013
  24. ^ Patty, Anna. "Anger as services to keep teens from crime dumped by state government." The Sydney Morning Herald. 24 May 2013.
  25. ^ "2015 Youth Work Awards." Youth Action. Accessed 29 February 2016.
  26. ^ "Local heroes honoured at 2017 Australia Day celebrations". 31 January 2017.
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