Homeless support services’ caseloads grow three times the national average in five years

New data shows that caseloads for Queensland homeless support services have grown three times the national average, with many struggling to keep up.

Homeless support services say they are being overwhelmed by demand, with monthly caseloads in Queensland growing three times the national average over the past five years.

Queensland Council of Social Service’s Breaking Ground report found the caseloads of specialist homelessness services had increased by 34 per cent since 2018, with services like Anglicare Queensland and St Vincent De Paul struggling to keep up amid the cost-of-living crisis.

Anglicare Southern Queensland group manager for social and community services Liz Giles said more people than ever were in crisis.

“And that’s being reflected in increased requests for assistance that are being directed to a whole range of support services,” she said.

“To make the point, it’s not just the homelessness services that are struggling to keep up. It’s the domestic and family violence services, the health and mental health services, the income support programs, the job support programs, and the list goes on.”

Queensland Council of Social Service CEO Aimee McVeigh says many support services are struggling to keep up with demand. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

A St Vincent de Paul’s spokesman said their homelessness service supported nearly 43,000 Queenslanders last financial year.

“St Vincent de Paul Queensland has seen first-hand the impacts of the housing crisis, as our crisis accommodation centres reach capacity throughout the state and calls for emergency housing continue to rise,” a St Vincent De Paul spokesman said.

“While we have seen a sizeable increase in demand for homelessness services and complex cases, it is vital we continue to maintain a high level of support and duty of care to the people we support.”

QCOSS chief executive Aimee McVeigh said a lot of services were struggling to keep up with demand.

“We just travelled the state in the last few months, talking to organisations right across regional Queensland and Brisbane, and we know from all of our services that they’re saying that they’re not getting to all of the calls for help that they receive,” Ms McVeigh said.

“All kinds of services are just not resourced to deal with the level of demand that’s in the community.”

Royston Pryor and Gregory Isaac have been homeless since February. Picture: Liam Kidston

Gregory Isaac, who had until recently been living rough in Brisbane’s Musgrave Park, claims his caseworker was so overworked they forgot to tell him he had successfully been placed in crisis accommodation.

He claims the first he heard about it was when the Department of Housing called asking if he was coming to see the unit.

“How many people have they forgotten to get back to and not got back to, and who could have had a house but don’t,” he said.

A Department of Housing spokeswoman said they were not aware of anyone missing out on housing because the offer had not been relayed by a case manager.