"Home to me is a place where my family is safe, my dogs are safe, somewhere I can go back to and have a place where I can safely rest my head," says 18 year old Mackaylee Cusick.
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Ms Cusick has been leading a homelessness week project to educate the community that being homeless means more than sleeping rough.
"Most people would understand homelessness, but not the extent of homelessness," she said.
"It's not just staying out on the street, it's unstable housing and staying in hostels and couch surfing and everything like that."
As part of the Yes Unlimited youth changemaker program, Ms Cusick has spent the last week carefully folding more than 50 origami houses and collating community responses to 'what does home mean to you?' to go on display in Albury's West End Plaza.
She said she's passionate about the cause after seeing many family and friends stay in unsafe places or jump from couch to couch.
"Throughout my life I've met at least 30 people who've experienced homelessness," she said.
"It was really upsetting that there wasn't a place for them.
"A lot of youth are often overlooked as well, because it's expected that they would have parents and family members that would help them."
IN OTHER NEWS:
In Australia there are more than 116,000 people who experience homelessness on any given night.
Yes Unlimited community engagement coordinator Michelle Milligan said about 1300 people at risk of or experiencing homelessness had come through the service last financial year.
She hoped the display would open a window into the world of Albury homelessness and said many people had stopped for a chat during its set up.
"There was a community member who stopped past who had moved here from Sydney and was unable to get a rental," she said.
"So they're living in a motel that is costing that person a lot of money.
"With what happening in Sydney they don't feel like they can go home, so they're really just stuck paying. It's expensive to eat if you're living in a motel, there's not appropriate cooking or refrigeration, so it's a really difficult situation."
The display will be in a West End Plaza shopfront throughout August.
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Victoria Ellis
Victoria Ellis grew up on the Border and loves reporting for her home community. She is a University of Wollongong Journalism graduate. In 2018 Victoria was awarded the Bruce Gordon Scholarship for Journalism and completed a 10 week internship with WIN News Illawarra. In 2019 she was awarded The Border Mail's Cameron Thompson Scholarship, where she completed a three week internship, before taking up ongoing employment in 2021.
Victoria Ellis grew up on the Border and loves reporting for her home community. She is a University of Wollongong Journalism graduate. In 2018 Victoria was awarded the Bruce Gordon Scholarship for Journalism and completed a 10 week internship with WIN News Illawarra. In 2019 she was awarded The Border Mail's Cameron Thompson Scholarship, where she completed a three week internship, before taking up ongoing employment in 2021.
