Young mum Brooke McCosh helping Rockhampton’s homeless with new group

After going through homelessness herself, a Rockhampton mum is now doing what she can to help others. Here’s how.

For more than 12 months, young mum Brooke McCosh and her two-year-old son were living rough – a situation that is scarily becoming more and more common for Rockhampton locals.

But now with a roof over her head, she’s doing what she can to help those going through the same thing.

Brooke became homeless just before the start of the Covid pandemic when the rent she was paying was set to rise.

Not being able to afford the higher price and the lack of rental properties available forced the pair to live on the streets.

“We were sleeping on the riverbank and for the last week housing put us in a hotel because it was raining,” she said.

“Now my sister is going through the same thing and she has a four-week-old.”

He sister has been applying for up to 20 houses a week and is also on the housing list but “getting nowhere”. Brooke said her sister was staying “all over the place” with family and friends.

Brooke said being homeless had an affect on both her physical and mental health, as well as her son.

“The biggest thing for me was my son didn’t have his own space, I mean he had space but not his own bedroom,” she said.

“My son gets pretty bad croup and he was always getting sick, I think he had it 22 times in a year.

“It made it hard and there weren’t many people out there that would actually help.”

After more than a year on the streets, Brooke was given the news a house had become available - and it was all hers.

“It was the biggest relief knowing I had a roof over our head and somewhere to settle, no more living hard,” she said.

“My son doesn’t get asthma attacks anymore and my mental state is a lot better.”

Now with a place to call home, Brooke is doing what she can to help others.

In July she began the Help the Homeless Rockhampton Facebook group, to try and help other people living rough.

“I know what it’s like and my sister is going through it, so it hits pretty close to home, so now I have a house I want to be able to help someone else,” she said.

“So far the group has about 60 people in it and about 20 people message me privately.

“One of the most common things people ask for is bedding.”

Brooke said it was “frustrating” more and more people were becoming homeless, no matter how much rent they were willing to pay.

“It’s heartbreaking to see so many people going through it,” she said.

“Before Covid things were fine … but the fact it’s happening to my own family really hurts, no one should be left to live on the streets.

“There needs to be more housing and people need to stop putting the rent up, it’s not fair on anyone but it’s harder on single parents just to get a house.”