Qld housing crisis: War of words over alleged funding cuts
The Opposition has called on the state government to reverse what it claims is a $45m funding shortfall for homelessness services.
QLD Politics
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The Opposition has called on the state government to reverse what it claims is a $45m funding shortfall for homelessness services, demanding the mid-year budget review include a boost to match Labor’s commitment under its Homes for Queenslanders plan.
The former Labor state government had committed $168.1m over the four years to 2027-28 – an increase of 20 per cent annually.
The LNP outlined in its election costings that it would extend the 20 per cent uplift to specialist homelessness services out to 2028, however there is no funding line in the costings budget showing the 20 per cent rise.
There is $41m across each financial year, totalling $123m – a $45.17m shortfall.
Opposition housing spokeswoman Meaghan Scanlon said the government should reverse the cut.
“The LNP have a track record of cuts to housing and now they won’t even honour promised funding to specialist homelessness services,” she said.
Housing Minister Sam O’Connor said the 20 per cent increase was locked in every year for the next four years.
“Any assertion otherwise is false,” he said.
“It is unfortunate Labor under Steven Miles have started 2025 the same way they conducted themselves throughout 2024 by pushing yet another desperate scare campaign.”
Micah Projects CEO Karyn Walsh said there had been no concrete communication from Mr O’Connor about funding, with contracts due in June.
“We’re still under a lot of pressure in terms of demand for services … it would be a terrible time for a reduction in funding,” she said.
The most pressing issue facing homelessness support services, Ms Walsh said, was setting a statewide building plan for social housing and emergency accommodation.
“We would like to know what the KPIs are around housing,” she said.
“It’s not a very transparent process of what or how many houses to expect and how long people will need to rely on emergency accommodation.
“It would be great if every community knew what the social and supportive housing plan in their area, the build rates and that would show the gap so we could plan for what to do in-between.”
Q Shelter acting CEO Jackson Hills said he expected any funding shortfalls would be addressed in the mid-year budget review process.
“The sector expects future contracts to reflect this funding increase and election commitment, ensuring they can continue to meet the rising and urgent demand for support within the community,” he said.
A total of 47,820 Queenslanders remain on the social housing waiting list as of December 2024.
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