Tent city families get a likely date for Premier’s visit

Premier Steven Miles has declared he will visit a tent city in his electorate “as soon I can” after it was revealed working Queenslanders were sleeping in a park.

Premier Steven Miles has declared he will visit a tent city in his electorate “as soon I can” after it was revealed working Queenslanders were sleeping in a park as the state’s housing crisis escalates.

The Courier-Mail revealed on Tuesday the makeshift community had steadily grown in the last 12 months just 8km from Steven Miles’s electorate office in Kallangur, north of Brisbane.

It is understood the Premier will visit the community at some point after Parliament concludes on Thursday, however multiple rough sleepers at the tent city have been given hope for more stable housing.

Rebecca Kyle who had been discharged from hospital after major surgery on Monday and with no place to safely heal returned to her tent before the Housing Department workers found her emergency accommodation and had offered her a social housing unit.

Joval Bennet, a fellow tent city resident along with her three children, said even as a New Zealand citizen department workers had given hope for secure housing accessible to her children's school and was elated by her neighbours prospects for getting housed.

“Here, you can’t just say g’day before getting in your car ... to hear good things are happening for them, I’m so happy.”

Zane McGill who first pitched a tent in the park 12 months ago said after speaking with workers on Tuesday he was confident his advocates at Encircle and Moreton Bay Housing could get the department to open the door to housing within weeks and allow him to get a two year overdue life saving colostomy bag.

David Stephenson and Rochelle Sneddon with Shaeleah, 11, Charli, 6, Lilliana, 2, and Paisley-May, six months. Picture: Liam Kidston

However a spokeswoman for City of Moreton Bay Council said social housing had not kept pace with living pressures and that, after investing millions in a service hub and affordable and social housing development fee discounts, too much onus had fallen on local councils to deal with rapid growing homelessness

“Although the remit of the state government is to provide social housing and crisis accommodation, the role of local government has grown in wake of the current housing and cost-of-living crises.”

Rochelle Sneddon is on maternity leave and had temporary crisis accommodation for her and her children but visits the tent community during the day where the father of her children has to live with their dogs.

“But something permanent, that’s what we need and that’s what we are fighting for, temporary housing is us having again not having stability for our children, all we want to give them is consistency,” said the Queensland Health employee.

The children's father, David Stephenson, said it was important the government follow through with meaningful change and looked forward to Mr Miles visit.

“Put away the band-aids and do a bit of surgery, come take your shirt off and get dirty here, this is where you’re gonna fix it,” he said.