Queensland’s four bail houses under-utilised and not cost effective

Queensland’s bail houses will be scrapped after they were found to be under-utilised and other options were more cost effective.

Queensland’s controversial bail houses will be scrapped at the end of next month.

The State Government has today revealed the four houses will wrap up after a final external report found the accommodation for young crims was under-utilised and other options were more cost effective.

The announcement comes after Youth Justice Minister Leanne Linard’s office yesterday told The Courier-Mail that an evaluation into the houses was still being considered.

Ernst and Young’s second report, which was handed to government in September, found the supervised community accommodation (SCA) provided safe, secure and stable accommodation for young people.

The houses are being scrapped, after Leanne Linard’s office yesterday told The Courier-Mail an evaluation into the houses was still being considered. Picture: Josh Woning

However it also found utilisation over a 12 month period never rose above 60.5 per cent.

While 70 per cent of youths did not reoffend while staying at the houses, 83 per cent reoffended after leaving between January 2018 and December 2019.

The report found this statistic was “consistent with similar cohorts”.

“From the data collected, these SCA services have not been shown to be a cost-effective way to reduce reoffending,” the report found.

The government introduced the houses in 2017 and has since spent $30.8 million on the program.

There are two in Townsville, one in Carbrook and another in Logan.

Ms Linard today said the government would work with SCA teams, the young people staying at them and other agencies to transition to other accommodation and provide support.

“Since the SCAs came online, the government has launched or expanded other programs, including co-responder, Transition to Success, Project Lighthouse and StreetCred,” she said.

“Coupled with intensive case management, they are having a significant impact.”

One youth offender was found to have committed 255 offences after leaving an SCA in 2018, and is currently in youth detention.

LNP Child Safety spokeswoman Amanda Camm said the houses are an “expensive waste of time”. Picture: Heidi Petith

Since 2017, there have been 5648 charged offences committed by 210 young people after leaving an SCA.

LNP Child Safety spokeswoman Amanda Camm said for one child to commit 255 offences after being released showed the houses were an “expensive waste of time”.

“This would have to be the biggest revolving door in Labor’s youth justice system which is clearly broken,” she said.

Reports released last year revealed more than three-quarters of young crims who spent time in a bail house reoffended, with some kids committing nine offences after being released.