New data shows Qlders spent 270,000 nights in crisis accommodation over two years
As new figures shed light on the sheer depth of homeless crisis, a tent city near Brisbane is staring down the barrel of eviction as early as Monday.
QLD Politics
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Demand for crisis accommodation in Queensland has soared by almost 800 per cent, as experts warn the country’s housing crisis is likely to deepen and remain a chronic issue.
An Oxford Economics report released on Monday predicts Australia will fall well short of the federal government’s ambitious plan to build 1.2 million homes over the next five years.
The Building in Australia report forecasts just 960,000 new homes will be built between now and 2029, well short of the 1.2 million target in the Albanese government’s National Housing Accord.
It comes as data reveals homeless Queenslanders spent more than 270,000 nights in emergency accommodation over the past two years – a 792 per cent rise between July 2022 and March 2024.
Just 5755 nights were spent in emergency accommodation rooms across the state during the July quarter 2022, compared to 51,380 nights between January and March this year.
In Brisbane alone, residents spent 597 nights in government-funded motels and hotels between July and September 2022, compared to a staggering 16,178 nights during the March quarter this year – an increase of more than 15,500 nights.
Over the same period, nights spent in temporary accommodation in the Central and North Coast regions shot up from 1650 to 22,474 nights and in the South East and in the South West region, it went from 1730 to 12,744 nights.
Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon said the figures showed the government was ensuring those affected by housing stress were not sleeping rough.
“When we said we’d ramp up our efforts to help people sleeping rough through our Homes for Queenslanders plan, we meant it,” she said.
“I made it clear that if anyone needs help, it is my expectation that government-funded organisations and my department are ready to offer accommodation.”
Government documents released in April revealed the government had spent $3.6m on hotel rooms for emergency accommodation so far this year compared to just $149,000 in the 2019-20 financial year.
Queensland Council of Social Service chief executive Aimee McVeigh called on the state government to make the private rental market fairer by limiting rental increases and ending no-grounds evictions.
“These (temporary accommodation) figures are a stark reminder that Queensland is in an unprecedented housing crisis,” she said.
“While funding provided by the Queensland government for crisis accommodation is very positive and currently critical for meeting people’s immediate need for housing, more needs to be done to provide long-term secure housing.
“We call on the government to take immediate action to address the rental crisis by limiting the amount of rental increases, ending no-grounds evictions, and implementing energy efficient standard for rental homes to reduce cost of living and improve wellbeing.”
Ms Scanlon said the government had increase funding for homelessness services by 20 per cent since she took over the portfolio in October.
“We also buy hotels, motels and other properties to get people longer-term housing as quickly as possible, something I won’t apologise for, and something the LNP have ruled out doing,” she said.
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said that, while temporary accommodation would remain “a part of the mix”, the LNP would focus on bringing more social housing stock online if elected in October.
“Community housing remains a sleeping giant for Queensland, there’s huge demand,” he said.
The state government has set an ambitious goal of building 53,500 social homes by 2046, with nearly 1000 homes currently under construction.
However, the Oxford Economics report underlines industry fears that it will struggle to keep up with a predicted population surge fuelled by a wave of new arrivals into the country, as labour shortages, dysfunctional planning systems and high costs crimp activity across the sector.
Report author and head of property and building forecasting at Oxford Economics Australia, Timothy Hibbert, said while new housing construction would reach record levels by the end of the decade, it wouldn’t be enough to keep up with a surge in demand.
“While industry capacity is showing signs of improvement in areas, labour shortages remain that will place a speed limit on the early-to-mid stage of the recovery,” he said.
“While we will continue to experience a dwelling stock deficiency, activity will inevitably recover in the residential sector. All build forms will contribute, driving total dwelling commencements to a new record level by the end of the decade.
“Attached dwellings are forecast to join the upswing from FY2026 with support from falling interest rates, the upward rebasing of rents, co-ordinated social housing investment, and planning tweaks in key markets. Build-to-rent development has risen to around one-fifth of apartment starts and is expected to grow this share a little further through late-decade.”
The report estimates that new home starts in the 12 months to June 2024 fell 10 per cent to 155,700. A small 2 per cent rise to 158,300 is predicted in 2024-25, before activity ramps up to 241,900 new homes in 2028-29 – a level marginally above the previous record set in 2016.
It forecasts that the current 146,000 “dwelling stock deficiency” will increase to 164,000 by June 2027 as home builders struggle to keep up with rising demand.
The government’s big build officially commenced this month, but industry fears are mounting that it is already slipping behind its five-year target agreed with state governments in August.
Earlier this month, the Housing Industry Association warned the government would fall short of its housing targets by 64,000 properties in the first year alone. To reach the 1.2 million home target by the end of June 2029, an average of 240,000 homes need to be built each year.
However, only 963,064 total new homes were completed over the past five years despite the pandemic HomeBuilder stimulus, which sent building levels to record highs.
The HIA is calling for tax relief, planning reforms and incentives to attract more workers to the industry in order to avoid what it predicts will be a 180,000 home shortfall over the next five years.
Government-appointed independent advisory body the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council, led by former Mirvac chief executive Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz, has also shot down the government’s targets, estimating a shortfall of nearly near 300,000 homes.
It suggests the private market will only be able to supply 903,000 new homes in the years leading up to 2029.
SHOULD THEY STAY OR GO?
A local council has denied claims by scores of homeless people they are being forced to vacate a showground north of Brisbane.
More than 40 residents of a tent city at Pine Rivers Showgrounds were allegedly told by a council officer they would be evicted on Monday, ahead of next week’s annual show.
The site, a 40-minute drive from the Brisbane CBD, is within walking distance of Lawnton train station and backs on to the local Salvation Army, which residents access daily for hot meals and facilities.
Beau Haywood – founder of Nourish Street, which supplies meals to homeless residents in the Moreton Bay area – said residents had been told police and council rangers were coming through on Monday to tell people to move on.
But City of Moreton Bay Council said it had no knowledge of such a directive.
“The last time council liaised with people experiencing homelessness at this site, all persons were registered for state government agencies’ services as people experiencing homelessness and complying with council’s regulations,” a spokeswoman said.
Council homeless liaison officers arrived at the Pine Rivers Showgrounds around 10am on Monday morning to ensure residents were on the list for temporary housing.
More than 10 tents could be seen in the showgrounds at the weekend, along with campervans, a bus and other temporary housing structures.
Some residents could be seen packing up their tents and vacating the premises on Sunday, while others had no plans to leave.
The showgrounds held a Pasifika event in May, and resident Tracey Hind, 58, said there were no issues with attendees parking for that event.
Ms Hind has been at the campsite since February, after rent rises forced her and partner Stephen Ibeston, 72, on to the streets. They are now saving for a campervan.
Tracey Wilkinson, 59, said while she was sleeping in her car, she was concerned about leaving the community and having to find another place to sleep at night.
“I can leave, but where do I go, this is where I feel safe, this is where I sleep at a night-time,” she said.
”Whereas if you park somewhere by yourself as an older single woman, it’s scary.”
Mr Haywood arrived around 10am on Monday and said a police patrol had been through the area.
“Councils have turned up with their liaison officers and with temporary housing solutions and they reckon they are not going to move anyone on,” he said.
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