The Queensland government hopes a new program will help to close the gap in homelessness across the state, with Supported Accommodation to provide transitional housing in 37 projects statewide that are expected to deliver more than 600 places for Queenslanders sleeping rough, ABC News reported on Tuesday (10 November). Housing Minister Sam O'Connor said all projects would be identified by 2028, but he could not say how many would be housing people by then, or the cost of the initiative.
The homes will provide 24/7 on-site specialist support, helping tenants to find pathways to more permanent homes in the private market or in social and affordable housing. The Department of Housing and Public Works says the statewide rollout includes 20 projects supporting individuals, 9 projects for families and 8 projects supporting young people, and that people can be referred by an existing Specialist Homelessness Service, the Homeless Hotline, a local Housing Service Centre or by directly contacting the service operating the site.
"We're going to have all of them identified by the end of this term, and we're going to have work underway on a fairly big chunk of them as well, because there is no time to waste," Mr O'Connor said. "This will be for young Queenslanders, it'll be for families, it'll be for individuals, and it will be absolutely life changing."
Sites Delivered and Under Construction
The department lists Supported Accommodation projects delivered or underway as Cairns (20 places of accommodation for individuals) and Logan (19 places for individuals), both delivered; Fraser Coast (26 places for individuals) and Ipswich (24 places for individuals), both under construction; and two Sunshine Coast projects in planning, with 20 places for individuals and 18 for young people.
The 24/7 on-site support includes referrals to health, education, training and employment services, practical help to build independent living skills, help finding longer term housing and comprehensive case management support, the department says. In a ministerial statement to parliament on 16 September, Mr O'Connor said supported accommodation gives vulnerable Queenslanders a roof over their head with onsite services, creating a genuine path to long-term housing.
The program sits alongside long-term supportive housing: in an answer to a question on notice, the minister listed the recently completed Supportive Housing for Families project at South Brisbane (18 homes), 20 supportive homes for families at East Brisbane expected to be completed by mid-2027, and 146 supportive housing units already operating in South Brisbane at Brisbane Common Ground.
The ABC spoke to Ethan Shrubb, who slept rough for 18 months and has spent the past two months in an inner-Brisbane apartment secured with the support of local community organisations and crisis support services, where he juggles IT studies and a warehousing job. "Not only has it been somewhere safe to sleep that I can actually rest and not stress, but I can build the foundations of everything that I've been trying to work towards for a long time," he said.
Sector Wants Permanent Supportive Housing
Queensland Council of Social Service chief executive Aimee McVeigh said the wrap-around support was vital to break the homelessness cycle. "There is a gap for crisis and transitional accommodation, and we urgently need more resources to fill that gap," she said. "We would like to see more models of supportive housing that are permanent, because supportive housing should include options where people can permanently live in accommodation and permanently access support."
The state government has committed to deliver one million new homes by 2044, 53,500 of which will be social and community homes. "Our record speaks for itself in that regard. We've had four record quarters of housing construction growth," Mr O'Connor said.