Social services organisations have welcomed the Queensland government’s moves to source urgent crisis accommodation for a growing number of homeless people, but warn that only long-term measures can ultimately fix the state’s housing crisis.
The state’s premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, on Friday chaired a roundtable with housing industry groups, local government and the social services sector. The meeting was a prelude to a housing summit next month.
Afterwards, Palaszczuk announced the state would begin work to convert 200 unused student accommodation units, at Griffith University’s Mt Gravatt campus, into crisis accommodation.
“We recognise that these are very complex issues, but there have been excellent conversations today,” she said.
There’s nothing more important than having a roof over your head. Today’s urgent Housing Roundtable helped shape the agenda for our Housing Summit on 20 October. We are focused on finding solutions to provide relief and access to affordable housing as quickly as possible.
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) September 16, 2022
One idea floated at the summit – which Palaszczuk said her government would consider – was to legislate quotas for affordable or social housing within new property developments.
The Queensland Council of Social Services said there are more than 50,000 people on social housing wait lists, and that growing numbers have been approaching community services seeking urgent help.
“We need a razor-sharp focus right now,” Qcoss CEO Aimee McVeigh said.
“Tents are being handed out to families; women and children are returning to domestic violence situations; and women and men in their 60s and 70s are sleeping on couches and floors, because there is nowhere else to go. This is why we need a housing summit.
“To solve the housing crisis, we need to ensure that we are building at least 5,000 new social housing dwellings every year for the next decade. That’s 50,000 new social houses, townhouses or units built by the 2032 Olympics.
“Unless we agree on that, we are accepting that we have an appetite for people living in cars, tents and motel rooms.”
McVeigh said more short-term crisis options were also needed, alongside long-term fixes.
“Social housing – a safety net for vulnerable Queenslanders – needs to be a priority,” she said.
The Queensland government’s efforts to build more homes have largely focused on releasing more land for greenfield development. On Thursday, the state took control of the Redlands council’s housing policy, citing their negligence in, not an inability to, update the city plan of the area – southeast of Brisbane.
