Crisafulli Government says budget will be biggest life support for homeless in State’s history

Housing Minister Sam O’Connor has announced the state government is to significantly boost funding for homelessness services amid the emergence of tent cities on the Gold Coast.

The Crisafulli Government is to significantly boost funding for specialist homelessness services in a bid to tackle the Gold Coast’s escalating accommodation crisis.

Addressing the National Homelessness Conference at the QT Gold Coast in Surfers Paradise on Tuesday, Housing Minister Sam O’Connor will announce a 20 per cent funding boost for specialist homelessness services, exceeding $200 million, to provide emergency accommodation.

The funding boost will be included in the government’s state budget on Tuesday.

Mr O’Connor said that the Government will lock in the increases across four years, providing permanent funding for service providers.

“They (the providers) now get to June and their funding just drops off a cliff. They will have multiple year agreements and certainty,” Mr O’Connor said.

“It’s nearly a $600 million increase in homeless services across the forwards (future financial estimates to 2028-29). This is the biggest investment in homeless services in Queensland’s history.”

Housing Minister Sam O’Connor at a public housing work site in Brisbane. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail.

The funding includes hotel and motel emergency accommodation along with “head leasing”, where government rentals provide homes for many women escaping domestic violence.

The Crisafulli Government had funded an extra $114 million this year and next year about $100 million extra was locked in.

“Over the next 12 months, to 2025-26, we have budgeted nearly $190 million for crisis accommodation – which is enormous,” Mr O’Connor said.

The funding announcement occurs as southeast Queensland faces a homeless crisis with tent cities taking off at locations including Southport’s Carey Park.

The key takeaways from Mr O’Connor’s speech included:

* The Government will lock in an indexed 20 per cent uplift for specialist homelessness services over four years, with $208 million in the Budget.

* This 20 per cent uplift delivers on an election commitment, part of the Securing Our Housing Foundations Plan announced by the LNP in last year’s Budget in Reply.

* The Government will deliver a $365 million boost to crisis accommodation for people experiencing homelessness across the State.

The Carey Park tent city at Southport.

The Government says Labor had ended its temporary funding for homelessness services finishing in June this year, just to get through until after the election.

An ongoing Budget uplift was not part of their election costings, the Government added.

Around 5000 social and affordable homes are approved or under construction, Mr O’Connor said.

He met last week with Southport councillor Brooke Patterson and Surfers Paradise councillor Darren Taylor, along with council officers, to address the accommodation crisis on the Gold Coast.

“That was all about better co-ordinating our response. So our outreach teams can work better with their officers. And we have set up a homelessness ministry advisory council,” he said.

Gold Coast City Council workers remove abandoned tents from Carey Park at Southport.

In a recent speech to parliament Mr O’Connor’s LNP colleague Ray Stevens sent shockwaves through Opposition benches by calling for police to have stronger powers to move homeless people from Broadbeach, Miami and North Burleigh.

Mr O’Connor told this masthead: “The frustrations that people are expressing are certainly not unique to one particular part of the Gold Coast. There are a lot of issues across the Coast. Our record as a government speaks for itself. This is the biggest investment in homeless services in our State’s history.”

Gaven MP and Labor frontbencher Meaghan Scanlon said the Crisafulli Government had changed the rules, which made it harder for people to get housing and homelessness support.

“What do we know based on our assessment, it looks like there is a cut to homeless services. Sam O’Connor needs to come clean about what this will actually mean to homelessness services,” she said.

Ms Scanlon said Labor had allocated almost $400 million to homeless services this year, and anything less than that next year “was a cut”.

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Originally published as Crisafulli Government says budget will be biggest life support for homeless in State’s history