Roseberry Queensland’s Dignity Hub nominated for the Australia Pacific LNG Community Hero Award

“There was also a lack of evidence and acknowledgment from our community leaders that homelessness was an issue for our community.”

Roseberry Qld's Dignity Hub reopens thanks to Department of Housing funding, May 11, 2020

A Gladstone housing and homelessness group’s project has been nominated for a prestigious award following its incredible impact on the community.

Roseberry Queensland’s Dignity Hub provides meals, food provisions, clean amenities and personal items to people at risk of homelessness or are homeless.

Roseberry Queensland general manager Michelle Coats said since launching the initiative in 2017, the Dignity Hub had helped more than 8000 people with about 1000 of these being under the age of 16.

“The Dignity Hub is maintained entirely through local community and business donations and volunteers who donate their own time to make this project a success,” she said.

“This Housing and Homelessness Services team created this initiative in their own time and continue to volunteer their time to continue this important work.

“This team also manage the Homeless Connect network which helps to connect homeless people with services and connections that empower them to move out of poverty.”

Ms Coats said that throughout Central Queensland there were several issues which punctuated the percentage of homeless people.

“There is an issue with lack of affordable housing, a high levels of unemployment, and low socio-economic indicators for a growing sector of people who face social, educational, and emotional barriers,” she said.

“The Dignity Hub was created in recognition of these growing challenges in our community and to provide basic support and amenities to those who are struggling the most.”

Ms Coats said the rollout of the Dignity Hub was not without its own barriers, with most of the problems faced arising from funding shortages.

“There was also a lack of evidence and acknowledgment from our community leaders that homelessness was an issue for our community,” she said.

“But the greatest barrier has been finding ongoing funding to support this initiative.

“The team continue to raise awareness of homelessness and this has led to more local businesses providing donations to help continue this service.

“Our hope is to attract ongoing corporate support that will allow us to make this project sustainable in the long term and continue to expand our services to meet growing demand from our community.”