THE number of homeless kids on the streets in Cairns is the lowest in 20 years, according to a new report.

In his Street Level Youth Care report for January, Baptist Church minister Harald Falge said last year was one of the quietest years in his two decades of serving homeless and disadvantaged youth.

He told The Cairns Post he believed better home lives and improved government services had led to the fall.

"We even had some nights with no one seeking our help," Dr Falge said.

"This has rarely happened to us. Maybe once or twice a year. Last year, we had quite a few nights with no one turning up.

"When we started 20 years ago, and up until last year, we were serving, on average, between 50 to 60 meals a night.

"Now we’re averaging between 12 to 20 a night.

"On Saturday night we only served nine meals and on Sunday night we served two meals.

"The noticeable difference in 2011 was the increase in the number of girls. Many nights we had more girls than boys, frequently as high as 90 per cent, whereas the usual make up is around 60 per cent boys and 40 per cent girls.

"Sometimes we were only seeing children three or four times and then they wouldn’t be back for another couple of months, if at all.

"If they’re not coming to us then it’s got to be a good thing; well I hope."

Dr Falge, who founded Street Level Youth Care about 20 years ago, said in the past year, 88 new children – some as young as 6 – had turned up to Munro Martin Park looking for a feed.

"Many of the very young ones are brought to the van by siblings and sometimes parents when there was no more food at home," he said.

"Children visiting our van are coming because of many different reasons."

Salvation Army Cairns spokesman Darren Kingston said the service’s welfare officer had noted a small drop in new clients needing help.

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