Lisa Jamieson says housing has been tight for years in the North Queensland city of Mackay, where she helps people who don’t have a roof over their heads or are on the brink of homelessness. But something’s different this year.

“We’re seeing new people come into our service every week,” Jamieson told The Australian Financial Review on a sweltering early spring morning in the city, a mainstay of sugar cane and mining services industries.