Hamilton residents claim hotel sheltering homeless presents ‘imminent safety threat’

Residents of a ritzy Brisbane suburb are fighting to “reclaim their neighbourhood”, claiming a hotel sheltering homeless people is an “imminent safety threat”.

Homelessness is on the rise across Brisbane, with tents now a common feature in parks and public spaces.

A motel being used to shelter homeless people in Hamilton has been labelled an “imminent safety threat” by nearby residents who letter dropped their neighbours urging community action to reclaim their once “safe and quiet neighbourhood”.

Residents in one of Queensland’s most expensive suburbs received letters urging them to contact politicians, Micah Projects – the homelessness support service responsible for the placement – and the motel to demand action.

“With many voices we can change our community for the better,” the letter said.

“We already have seen some action getting certain people removed, and we need your help to get back to the safe and quiet neighbourhood that we had prior to the placement of these people.”

The letter was dropped in mailboxes across Hamilton.

Residents are urging people to take action.

Micah Projects CEO Karyn Walsh conceded there had been some issues with managing the residents at the hotel but said they need increased capacity to better manage the hundreds of families experiencing homelessness forced into motels.

The letter went on to accuse Micah Projects, who received over $28 million of government funding in 2022 according to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, of failing to screen and support occupants.

“And allowing them to remain at the motel despite severely breaching standards of conduct required.”

Ms Walsh said there was some misinformation contained in the letter, with all support recipients being assessed.

“We obviously only know what we know, because it’s the first time we meet them before we put them into a hotel and we’re in constant contact,” she said.

“We can’t predict how people are going to behave, but we do our best once we know … we are really concerned about community safety.”

Micah Projects CEO Karyn Walsh.

The CEO said the lack of affordable rentals had locked hundreds of families out of secure housing and left her team “pretty pushed”.

“Brisbane has been probably has between 150 to 200 families in hotels at any given time, we all know, the government knows and we know that it’s not ideal,” she said.

Ms Walsh said the rental market had been traditionally relied on for housing families, “but that rental market is diminishing.”

“We need to get more affordability into the system and a lot of money’s been spent getting places sorted for individuals now we need to really focus on families,” she said.

She accepted there had been one “problematic” tenant that had already been removed and public health issues and a nearby Youth Project facility opening meant it may not be appropriate to use the motel going forward.

“There are some things they just need to ring the police about if they’re occurring and sometimes it’s debatable whether they’re occurring the way they say they’re occurring,” she said.

“There are so many dynamics going on that we’re doing our best to manage, we know we’re not doing it perfectly, it takes a lot of work to do it.”

A QPS spokesperson said police had not observed a specific increase in reports from the address but were aware of the current temporary accommodation situation.

“Any concerned residents or community members can report suspicious activity to Policelink using the online suspicious activity form 24hrs per day at www.police.qld.gov.au/reporting or call 000 in an emergency,” the spokesperson said.