Youth advocates have shown concern for the grave effects of social isolation on mental health and wellbeing among the city's younger generations.
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As school students transition to online learning, Mission Australia representative for the Central West and Riverina, Megan Boshell, told The Daily Advertiser there was a mounting concern for at-risk families.
Particularly Ms Boshell indicated the steep rise in unemployment across the nation was likely to impact those in the 16 to 25-year-old age group unduly.
"Opportunities for that part-time or casual employment have dried up with most of the industries heavily impacted by the COVID-19 situation," Ms Boshell said.
Students living in potentially violent or volatile homes, Ms Boshell said the concern is that without school or work, many young people will not have avenues for destressing.
"Youth homelessness is a huge issue in the Riverina, and I think there will be an impact," Ms Boshell said.
"This situation is keeping young people at home, and those safety avenues are not there. It's harder to mitigate homelessness in all of its facets, which includes couch surfing, staying with friends or even strangers."
To address the issue, Mission Australia's Eastern Murrumbidgee Youth Service will continue to provide accommodation options to at-risk youths aged 16 and 17.
It is also continuing to provide support services to those aged between 16 and 24 to manage circumstances before homelessness becomes an option.
Mission Australia expects to see concerns surrounding health and wellbeing as front-of-mind among youth, as the organisation prepares for its annual nationwide youth survey.
Last year, 444 people from Wagga, aged between 15 and 19, took part in the survey. But this year, its delivery will be greatly impacted by the COVID-19 situation.
"Usually, the survey is done through schools," said Dr Joann Fildes, one of the researchers on the survey team.
"This year, we're encouraging young people to get online and do it."
In her capacity as a Riverina and Central West advocate, Ms Boshell said much work would be done in liaising with schools in the hopes of reaching all students, even those without reliable internet access.
"We might see a bit of a decline [in participants] this year, but I'm confident we'll be able to get a lot of people online," she said.
"There's nothing to stop us printing the survey and going old-school via the mailboxes, maybe when the schools distribute work or newsletters."
Last year, young people in the state should a primary concern for the environment. Following catastrophic bushfires, drought and the global pandemic, Dr Fildes said it would be "interesting to see what's important to young people in 2020."
"We do really want to get those regional voices into the survey," Dr Fildes said.
"We now from comparing answers with the metropolitan areas, regional young people have a lot of different concerns.
"Barriers to employment and lack of transport are big issues in regional areas. We hear a lot about concerns for post-school opportunities.
"Regional areas have a lower uptake in university, [and we think] everybody should have a fair opportunity to go to university should they want to."
Mission Australia caseworker for Wagga, Cameron Dowling is on the forefront of the issue locally.
He hopes that the youth survey will provide a much-needed boredom buster for those students stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We hope that during a time when so many young people will be self-isolating, that they could spare 15 minutes of their time to participate in the Youth Survey," he said.