THE WAIT list for the state’s social housing grew by 11% in just under one year under Labor, while 2822 Ipswich residents are left waiting in the midst of a growing housing crisis.
Over 1800 Queenslanders were added to the social housing waitlist during the September quarter and an additional 20 people are added across the state per day.
The Crisafulli Government has committed to delivering a place to call home for more Queenslanders to end the housing crisis, with one million new homes by 2044, including 53,500 social and community homes along with eight new supported accommodation services for young Queenslanders.
Minister for Housing, Public Works, and Youth Sam O’Connor said the Securing Our Housing Foundations Plan would deliver more homes.
“Our new government is playing catch-up for Labor’s decade of inaction by unlocking church and charity land, boosting support for homelessness services, and working to unleash the potential of the community housing sector to deliver more homes faster,” Mr O’Connor said.
“We promised Queenslanders we would deliver solutions, not excuses, and that’s exactly what we are doing.”
Homelessness nationwide has reached alarming new levels, with the latest annual data from Homelessness Australia released last week, revealing a deepening emergency.
The latest data revealing that the amount of people seeking help as a result of housing affordability had increased a further 15.7% in the past year.
Almost 280,1000 clients have been assisted by specialist homelessness agencies in the past year, with the amount of people already sleeping rough when first accessing a service increasing 13% in the past year. This is a total increase of 33% in the past two years.
“This is a humanitarian crisis and these shocking new figures must be a wake-up call for governments across Australia,” Homelessness Australia CEO Kate Colvin said.
“We are failing people at every turn – more families, workers and older Australians are being pushed to breaking point by skyrocketing rents and a broken housing system.”
Meanwhile, there was no housing for 70% of people who needed long-term housing, leaving 76,688 Australians who requested help to fend for themselves.
The state which saw the biggest increase in rough sleeping over the past two years was Queensland, with a shocking 51% spike, followed by WA with a 35% increase.
“We knew it was bad, but this data shows us it’s getting even worse,” Ms Colvin said.
“While the Federal Government’s increases to rent assistance and social housing investment have made a difference, more must be done to address the crisis.
“We need an immediate injection of funding to stop the crisis from worsening.”
