Fireside Chat Recap: Open Door Youth Housing with Nick Oong

This week we sat down with Nicholas Oong, CEO of Open Door Youth Housing — a specialist homelessness service in Sydney that has been supporting young people at risk since 1984.

Nick started out doing Christmas casual filing at a community housing provider while at university. That was supposed to be six weeks. Ten years later, he was still in the sector — and now he leads one of Australia's first youth refuges.

Here's what we learned.

What Open Door does

Open Door breaks its model into three steps: navigate, connect, and build.

When a young person reaches out, they don't have to fill in forms or jump through hoops. It's a name and a number. Within 24 hours, a caseworker calls them back — and from that first conversation, the support is shaped by what the young person says they need.

"Our role is to guide them, help them navigate processes. But at the end of the day, young people always know what they need and what they want. We're just there to lend that hand."

Sustaining a tenancy

One of the things Nick stressed is that getting housing is only half the equation. Keeping someone housed is just as important.

"A lot of people think homelessness is about housing — getting a place. But keeping people housed in homes that are safe and sustainable is equally important."

Open Door does early intervention work: if a young person is in a private rental but has lost their job, or their mental health is deteriorating, the team steps in to help them stay where they are. They liaise with real estates, advocate with landlords, and connect young people with services — including Mobilise Kickstarter — to bridge the gap.

When things go wrong

Sometimes a tenancy does fall through. Nick walked us through what actually happens.

First, Open Door tries to make sure the exit is as clean as possible — keeping relationships intact with agents and landlords. Then if someone has nowhere to stay, they can call Link to Home, a hotline that finds crisis accommodation — refuges, shared spaces, sometimes motels — usually in five-day blocks while the young person works towards their next housing option.

"We try and get someone into housing as quick as possible."

The extraordinary in the extra-ordinary

This was the part of the conversation that hit hardest.

Nick made the point that housing someone is critical, but connection and belief are equally important. Young people in Open Door's programs often don't have family, friends, or any network at all. Cooking a meal, going grocery shopping, learning to budget, clocking up driving hours — these aren't professional casework tasks. They're things any community member with time and a skill could help with.

"The professional support holds the complexity, but it's the community that holds the everyday. If we combine those together, we can expand what's possible."

How to get involved

Open Door is setting up an Expression of Interest form. If you're interested in helping — whether it's driving hours, gym sessions, cooking, budgeting, or something else entirely — leave your details and they'll get back to you about opportunities in Sydney.

"You definitely don't need to be a reverse parking wizard. A lot of the time it's supervision-based, connection-based."

This was our first Fireside Chat — a new series where we sit down with charity partners to hear directly about their work and find practical ways our community can get involved. More sessions coming soon.