A Perth broker is making a profound impact on youth homelessness by teaching financial literacy skills to disadvantaged young people who are committed to turning their lives around.  

Kevin D’Silva’s efforts have supported two young people into homeownership within the past 12 months, inspiring many others to work towards the same goal. 

Since 2021, Kevin, director of Financial Growth, has been volunteering at the Foyer Oxford in Perth.  

Here, he coaches and mentors its residents on financial goal setting and budgeting to achieve their dreams. 

 Foyer Oxford, part of a broader network of Foyers across Australia, provides accommodation for young people aged between 18 and 24 who are at risk of homelessness. By offering secure and supportive accommodation settings, the residents are able to pursue education or employment pathways and ultimately get their lives back on track.  

AFG is a principal partner of the Foyer Foundation, which aims to drive the growth of Foyers across Australia so that more young homeless people can be supported.  

Although an AFG member, Kevin’s work with Foyer Oxford was initiated by himself independently of this partnership. In 2023, Kevin received the prestigious Industry and Community Broker Group of the Year category For WA in the AFG Awards.  

Kevin began volunteering at Foyer Oxford in late 2021, during the COVID pandemic. He was eager to find a way to “give back” and a friend at Anglicare WA connected him with the organisation. Initially supporting homework clubs and community dinners at the Foyer, Kevin soon realised there was a gap in financial skills training. He formalized a program and started offering workshops to residents. For those keen to take the next step, he provided personalised financial mentoring. 

Kevin estimates that between the workshops and coaching sessions, he has worked with at least 60 Foyer residents over the past few years.  

His efforts have culminated in one of his mentees buying their own home late last year, and another last month, thanks to their more disciplined approach to their finances. 

In both instances, the young people’s details were passed on to another mortgage broker, Catherine Borromei at Vitality Finance, who helped them arrange their home loans. Kevin is adamant there should always be a clear line of separation between his coaching and the end deal to ensure there is no conflict of interest. 

“Cath has been a very important part of this process. These aren’t huge deals, and they involve a lot of work, but she’s happy to do them and go the extra mile knowing it is helping change someone’s life trajectory,” he said. 

“To go from homelessness to homeownership is a huge achievement for these young people. They were prepared to put in the hard yards but benefited from having some direction on how to do this. For anyone involved, it’s certainly been a heartwarming thing to see.” 

Kevin said having two Foyer Oxford residents become homeowners had shown others it’s possible, triggering hope and encouraging commitment from fellow residents.  

“Many of the residents wouldn’t have thought this was possible but when they see a peer achieve this, they start to believe it can happen. We’re finding more people becoming committed to and working towards this goal. Combined with some workshops that dispel the myths of getting on the property ladder, I expect a lot more Foyer residents will be collecting keys to their own home in the near future.” 

Kevin hopes to see similar workshops rolled out across Australia and is working with AFG to provide a framework that other interested brokers can adopt with residents of Foyers in their own areas. AFG expects to provide more information on this initiative in the coming months.