‘Don’t go back to sleeping in your car’: Premier’s plea

Premier Steven Miles has promised a man on the brink of homelessness the state government would pay for a hotel room to keep him off the streets.

Steven Miles promised a Queensland man on the brink of homelessness the state government will pay for a hotel room to keep him off the streets as the Premier conceded a lack of housing supply had left many in despair.

The state government’s housing policies were under the microscope during The Courier-Mail’s cost of living debate as the Premier and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli came face-to-face over the grim reality of the crisis.

Mr Miles again ruled out putting a cap on rent increases as he insisted the suite of state government reforms would put downwards pressure on soaring costs for tenants.

During the debate, an audience member, Rodney Tegen, said there “are no pathways” or specific government support payments for single men as he feared being forced to again sleep in his car — a predicament that clearly moved Mr Miles.

The leaders were grilled by Queenslanders with real-world experience. Picture: David Clark

“Please don’t go back to sleeping in your car,” the Premier said. “Please reach out to our services before it gets to that because it’s easier for them to take care of you while you’re in a house.

“So we’ll see if we can connect you with those services and try and make sure it doesn’t come to that.

“And if it stops you sleeping in a car, then we’ll pay for hotel accommodation.”

The Premier said the government had increased funding to housing support services while also introducing bond loans and rental grants to help people like Mr Tegen.

Mr Crisafulli said the immediate options were crucial but stressed a longer term plan was needed to ease the pressure on the market.

“Housing is broken in Queensland and the biggest reason why it’s broken is there just isn’t enough supply,” the Opposition Leader said.

“The underlying problem is we just don’t have enough supply so therefore, at the bottom end of the market, you’ve got a feeding frenzy where people are trying everything to get into a property.

“We have to increase supply, we need social housing for the most vulnerable, (and) we need community housing to make sure that’s part of the mix.

“And then if we do that we can put long term pressure on that system.”

The Premier said the government had introduced policies to put downwards pressure on ballooning rental costs, such as limiting rent increase frequency, banning rent bidding and bringing in a code of conduct for property managers to stamp out aggressive, price lifting practices.

But he also agreed with his rival — a lack of supply in the market was a major contributor to the crisis.

“The key is supply and supply at every level of the market, so supply of housing to buy, supply of housing to rent, supply of social housing and supply of public housing,” Mr Miles said.