The alarming statistic was presented to the National Youth Commission, an independent community inquiry which will report on the effectiveness of existing services and programs for young people and work out ways to halt the growing rate of youth homelessness.

Sitting in Brisbane today, the Commission heard that the issue is worse in Queensland because of a lack of crisis accommodation there, particularly in rural areas, as well as soaring rental costs.

This report by Kathryn Roberts begins with a young woman who found herself on the streets when she was 17.

SKATERGIRL: My name's Skatergirl and I'm 19.

I was homeless after sustained abuse at home, physical abuse for about two years from one of my family members.

I stayed at home to finish school and then the day after I finished school I left when I was 17 and came on the streets.

KATHRYN ROBERTS: How often would you have been turned away from a crisis service?

SKATERGIRL: I've been turned away from crisis services a lot. Sometimes you're lucky to get in, but often you aren't, especially in winter, peak times, when a lot of people want to be in shelters, don't want to be on streets.

Like winter '05, I was trying to find a place to sleep in a shelter all that winter, and you know, I had to stay on the streets the whole winter because I just couldn't find a place anywhere.

KATHRYN ROBERTS: So just describe what do you do when you are turned away, where do you go?

SKATERGIRL: You just end up in squats on the streets and other unsafe places to sleep. You know, you might sleep in fire exit somewhere or you might sleep on a park bench one night.

KATHRYN ROBERTS: It's a familiar story for those working with young homeless people.

Maria Leebeek from the Queensland Youth Housing Coalition says the latest data shows rates of youth homelessness in Queensland are much higher than the national average. But youth homeless is on the rise right around the country.

MARIA LEEBEEK: One in every 70 children, or just over one per cent of Australian children aged 16 to 17-years-of-age, became a client of a homeless service in 2004/05.

KATHRYN ROBERTS: Almost 20 years have passed since the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission inquiry into youth homelessness headed by Brian Burdekin.

Too long, according the community sector which has set up it's own independent national inquiry to examine the issue of youth homeless.

Father Wally Dethlefs was one of the commissioners on the 1989 Burdekin inquiry and he's now a member of this inquiry.

He says the stories he's hearing as he tours the country are disturbing.

WALLY DETHLEFS: They talked about the previous day they had seven young women come needing crisis accommodation, and the crisis accommodation was all full. Included in those seven was a young mother with baby whose partner, boyfriend or whoever, was after them both with a knife. And they had to turn them away.

KATHRYN ROBERTS: For young Queenslanders living in rural areas, the problem is not that services are stretched, but there's almost no crisis accommodation at all.

There are just two homeless services for young people living west of the dividing range.

(to Wally Dethlefs) Why is situation in Queensland so bad in particular?

WALLY DETHLEFS: Part of reason is that we're a low tax State, so we don't put as much money into assisting families stay together. We don't put enough money into services for marginalised and homeless young people.

KATHRYN ROBERTS: And do you think people are prepared to pay more in certain taxes in order to fund these kinds of social services?

WALLY DETHLEFS: If they don't do that, then we have a dysfunctional society, and they're forced to pay higher insurances, they're forced to barricade themselves into their own homes. And so one way or another they have to pay.

KATHRYN ROBERTS: For Father Dethlefs, the most surprising evidence presented to the inquiry has been the number of young students or casual workers accessing homeless services because they can't afford to pay soaring rental prices.

Maria Leebeek says rents are so high a person on income support would have to fork out their entire income to put a roof over their head.

MARIA LEEBEEK: Housing should be a right, and it's the very basic right that like I said, enables you to be able to get a job, get some training, advance yourself in whatever you want to do.

KATHRYN ROBERTS: She says not much progress has been made since the Burdekin inquiry, and both the State and Federal Governments need to invest more in public and community housing.

For Skatergirl things are looking up. She's living in semi-supported housing, sharing a flat and has access to a youth worker. But it's been a hard road and one that she says governments could make a lot easier.

SKATERGIRLD: It's so hard to get a place to stay, you know, like a basic place to stay. And before you have a place to stay you can't get a job.

How easy it could be to give people affordable housing, you know, and then you take all the pressure off the drug and alcohol services, the mental health system, Centrelink system, people would be able to find jobs and work and stuff like that.

I think that, you know, affordable housing is something that we really need very desperately in Queensland.

PETER CAVE: A Queensland client of homeless services ending that report from Kathryn Roberts.