A lack of housing in Ipswich as owners sell and prices rise has left people struggling to put a roof over their heads

A charity has noted a 30-40 per cent increase in people facing homelessness across Ipswich

Ipswich Assist manager Jason Budden.

NEW data has confirmed those doing it tough in Ipswich are in need of food, housing and emergency relief.

Details released by the Queensland Family and Child Commission (QFCC) revealed 33,000 searches had been made by people seeking support across thousands of community support services statewide.

Between October and December searches for crisis relief increased by 14 per cent since the July to September period.

A QFCC spokeswoman told the Queensland Times those doing it tough in Ipswich were reflected in the statewide trend, with 33 per cent in need of food, 22 per cent in need of emergency relief and 21 per cent struggling with housing issues.

Manager for community relief charity Ipswich Assist Jason Budden said the increase mirrored what he had seen across Ipswich.

"The three areas of most need are in housing, emergency relief and food, without a doubt," Jason said.

"Emergency relief is when, due to an out of control circumstance like they've lost a job or their house, they are in crisis and need help with bedding, help paying a bill and so on - it's that immediate need."

An Ipswich family who lived in the same home for 12 years were forced to move after the property owner sold.

"They were given a month to leave but there isn't a lot of housing around for people - we had to put them in a hotel for a week," he said.

The family has yet to find a home.

"We don't have enough funding to keep paying for hotels so next week we won't be able to help them because we're out of funding," Jason said.

"We run very close to being out of funding all the time."

On Tuesday, 100 people went to Ipswich Assist for help, a quarter of whom lacked housing.

"People are selling up houses now because the market is so good but public accommodation is all taken up," Jason said.

"It would have to be a 20 - 30 per cent (increase in people looking for housing). It's unusual to see this - it's been crazy."

In stark contrast, the number of people approaching the organisation for any sort of help dropped when jobseeker payments increased during Covid.

"We saw a huge reduction in numbers during those extra payments - less people searching for emergency relief assistance - but, as soon as the payments started to drop off again, we've seen the numbers rise back up as quickly as they fell," Jason said.

"The standard of living had increased, people were able to survive without coming to see agencies like ours.

"I don't think we should ever have dropped the payment back - we should have kept it at is was."

 

Read more news by Ebony Graveur.

Originally published as A lack of housing in Ipswich as owners sell and prices rise has left people struggling to put a roof over their heads