Clayfield retirement village to transform into social housing

The Palaszczuk government says it is acting on its promise to unlock social housing, revealing the transformation of a retirement village in the heart of one of Brisbane’s most up-market suburbs will be the first of many.

A retirement village in an upscale inner-Brisbane suburb will be transformed into social housing as the Palaszczuk government searches for quick solutions to ease Queensland’s housing crisis.

The Clayfield facility will provide housing for about 30 residents with Housing Minister Leeanne Enoch insisting the government is actively searching and acquiring ready-made accommodation sites.

She said the housing summit, held last year in response to The Courier-Mail’s campaign Hitting Home, revealed the government needed to be more creative in how it solves the chronic undersupply of social and affordable homes.

“When you think about some of the outcomes from our recent housing summit, it was called upon us to be more innovative in the way we purchase properties (and) the way that we build properties,” Ms Enoch told reporters on Sunday.

The property at Clayfield the state government has purchased to repurpose as social housing. Picture: Lachie Millard

“Not only are we building more social housing in Queensland, some of which is quite innovative in its prefabrication stance, but we’re also purchasing in an innovative way — looking at these kinds of properties that give us some instant stock.”

The Housing Minister refused to reveal a date for the completion of works, which she said will consist of minor upgrades to ensure the facility complies with building regulations.

Accommodation at the Clayfield facility will be suitable for older single women, Ms Enoch said, given the nature of the smaller units on site.

Various government departments continue to conduct an audit of regions across the state to identify land suitable for construction to ease the affordability and availability crisis, as was announced at the housing summit.

“That is ongoing and we’re looking across all government agencies and we’re talking to local government councils with regard to that to look at every available option to be able to release land and ready stock,” Ms Enoch said.

Housing Minister Leeanne Enoch says the site will house about 30 people. Picture: Lachie Millard

“This (Clayfield retirement facility) is one of those examples that the team has been working on for quite some time and it reflects those kinds of conversations that we saw at the housing summit.”

When Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk committed to the housing summit, she announced an unused student accommodation at Griffith University would be transformed into social housing to provide emergency relief to the sector.

But about four months later, the site remains empty and as building works continue to make it suitable for housing.

“Griffith was a great offer from the university (but) it came with its own issues and of course that work has to be done,” Ms Enoch said.

“I don’t want to put people into any old thing — it needs to be safe, it needs to be a place they can call home, so that work has to be done.”