Qld budget 2023-24: Advocacy groups frustrated by state government’s housing pledge

Advocacy groups have warned the state government’s pledge to build 500 more social and affordable homes won’t address the scale of the crisis.

The Palaszczuk government’s investment into housing is “absolutely not enough” according to advocacy groups who warn the pledge to build 500 more social and affordable homes won’t address the scale of the crisis.

Treasurer Cameron Dick committed an extra $1.1 billion in Queensland’s 2023-24 budget, announced Tuesday, to alleviate housing pressures with a portion of this funding boost going towards meeting the higher construction costs for dwellings already in the pipeline.

But the stock increase falls well short of what is required, according to a number of advocacy groups including the Queensland Council of Social Service (QCOSS), whose chief executive Aimee McVeigh has repeatedly said the state needs 6000 new social and affordable homes built each year.

“The scale of the housing crisis is that we currently have about 300,000 Queenslanders with unmet housing needs and until we have a plan that meets us in this moment, a strategy to deliver sufficient housing backed up by investment, we will not see an end to the housing crisis,” she said.

“There’s absolutely not enough in this budget.”

Rosalinda Castillejos has had to move every three month in recent times because of rising rent. She is a child care worker in her early 20s and works two jobs. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Mr Dick acknowledged the crisis was a “source for daily distress” as he cited various factors compounding the shortage of homes, including the state’s surging population, material and labour shortages and the evolution of the number of inhabitants shrinking per household.

When pressed by reporters about the number of new homes added to its housing plan, the treasurer said pressures on the construction sector limited prospects to add to its dwelling stock.

“Housing construction is at capacity – that’s just the truth,” Mr Dick said.

“It’s not a matter of finance, it’s actually a matter of being able to build those homes.”

But Ms McVeigh said the private sector was able to build 34,000 residential homes over the last year.

“If the government were delivering in accordance with the constraints of the building and construction industry, you’d like to see about 7-8 per cent of that housing being social and affordable housing, which would be close to 2500 social and affordable housing dwellings,” she said.

“In the past decade, we’ve seen the government deliver about 500 per year.”

Anglicare Southern Queensland executive director, Sue Cooke, welcomed the $250 million boost to housing and homeless support services but was also concerned by the lack of supply, warning there were currently about 45,000 people waiting on the housing register.

Treasurer Cameron Dick with his budget, announced Tuesday afternoon in Parliament House in Brisbane. Picture: Liam Kidston

“If we’re looking at a few thousand houses on the ground in the next couple of years, obviously that’s not enough — there’s going to be a shortfall,” she said.

Fiona Caniglia, executive director at homeless body Q Shelter, shared the frustrations at the commitment and pleaded for a “rapid response”.

She said prefabricated modular homes should be built urgently at large scale as if “we were responding to post-war conditions”.

Rosalinda Castillejos told The Courier-Mail she’s been forced to move regularly in response to her rents being hiked.

She said her landlord for her tiny unit, which was “literally a hallway with a bedroom”, jacked the rent by $250 after six months when the lease was renewed.

Ms Castillejos said all she could afford was rent and fuel while working two jobs as a childcare and support worker.

“I think we should definitely have more affordable living available because a lot of people are staying in houses just from people they know,” she said.