Advocates say $133 million, 527 homes needed for CQ housing crisis
“There are 1,625 people across the Central Queensland region right now who don’t have a safe place to sleep tonight.”
Rockhampton
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The Queensland Government needs to commit $133 million in the upcoming State Budget to build 527 homes across the Central Queensland region to have any hope of shifting the dial on Queensland’s housing crisis, public housing advocates say.
According to Queensland Government data, there are currently 527 families in urgent need of housing across Central Queensland region.
There are 929 Central Queensland region households on the social housing register overall.
Queensland Council of Social Service CEO Aimee McVeigh said that investment would create up to 1,202 jobs in the region and make a significant dent in Queensland’s housing crisis.
“There are 1,625 people across the Central Queensland region right now who don’t have a safe place to sleep tonight,” she said.
“They cannot afford their rent, they are sleeping in their car, or on a friend’s couch.
“For too long, we’ve been using emergency sandbags against what is a tsunami of need. Investment at its current pace is simply not meeting demand.
“We need the Queensland Government to make real change and commit to building 527 social homes to address this.”
AnglicareCQ CEO Carol Goodwin said a lack of housing was the “grim reality” for many in Central Queensland.
“The current housing crisis isn’t just hitting the south east corner but is very much an issue across regional Central Queensland centres too,” she said.
“With vacancy rates close to 0 per cent in towns such as Rockhampton, Yeppoon and Gladstone the pressures around maintaining or obtaining a private rental are significant.”
“This coupled with the wind down of the National Rental Affordability Scheme and insufficient social housing is a perfect storm.”
AnglicareCQ provides emergency, community, and affordable housing across Central Queensland.
It comes after the State Government called on the Federal Government to address the housing crisis in its Federal Budget earlier this month.
The national government’s lack of funding in the Budget to address the issue was widely criticised.
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