Our History

Latitude has been operating within the Hobsons Bay Area going back prior to the local council mergers of 1994-96. Whilst Latitude might have looked and named differently when under the guise of Altona Youth Housing Group, it still operated then under the same ethos as it does today.

By 1997 Altona Youth Housing had merged with the Williamstown Youth Housing Group to become Baywest Youth Housing Group. The organisation now covered a larger area and therefore more clients across the municipality of what is now Hobsons Bay. Not only supporting young people, who were homeless or at risk of being homeless, the Group also managed a number of tenancy properties utilised by clients. By the early 2000’s properties were taken out of the control of individual groups, funding began to squeeze, and the larger organisations began to assert their influence within the youth homelessness sector.

Not ever being an organisation that sits back to see what evolves, Baywest began liaising with four likeminded small youth housing groups across the Western suburbs to consider what opportunities might exist for these smaller groups to remain viable and effective. Whilst all five groups had similar philosophies, they could not find a way to merge into a single entity.

What did evolve was Latitude: Directions for Young People, not just a merger of Baywest and Essendon Youth Accommodation Group but a merger of strong philosophies on youth homelessness. In 2009, Latitude was born, with staff merging from the previous organisations bringing with them new skills, drive and enthusiasm. A new Committee of Management brought not just a strong cross section of the community, but skills and knowledge relevant to supporting Latitude’s work in a rapidly changing environment.

Today Latitude remains a strong advocate for young people in the western suburbs of Melbourne.