Rockhampton man Bradley Lovett homeless for three years amid Central Queensland housing crisis

A Rockhampton man, who has been living on the streets for three years, says he has been looking for a house for he and his three dogs but has struggled to get one. A charity is calling for urgent action to address Queensland’s housing crisis in the lead up to the federal election. Full details.

A Rockhampton man, who has been living on the streets for three years, says has been looking for a house for he and his three dogs but has struggled to get one.

Bradley Lovett said he lived in Gayndah with his now ex-partner at her mother’s house which was being sold, before getting stuck in Rockhampton after he and his ex-partner were pulled up by police while passing through town.

Mr Lovett said the issue he was facing was finding housing that would allow his three dogs, Doody Doo, Maxy Moo and Chinny Choo.

“Apparently you can’t have three dogs,” he said.

He said he had noticed an increase in the number of people living on the streets in Rockhampton in the past couple of months.

“People aren’t getting housing because of their colour or their individualities,” he said.

“Some people are loners and some people aren’t. I like my dogs and I like to stick to myself.

“We look after each other because we have to. We are all we have got.”

He said he wasn’t allowed in shopping centres nor was he allowed to collect scraps out of the bins.

He claimed he was being “stalked” by Rockhampton Regional Council “daily” and that he originally had four dogs but lost one to the pound.

“They won’t leave me alone because of the dogs,” he said.

“ I can’t even walk into a shop without the pound trying to take them. I am over it.

“When they had these three in the pound I sort of climbed up on the fence and I had to go to court for assault.

“These are my family.

“About half an hour after I left court two pound cars pulled up and tried to take these three and I said, ‘not a chance’.

“I am a disability pensioner and it costs nothing to register my dogs but now they have had them in the pound it costs me $860 a year each to get them out.

“Everybody in Rockhampton knows my dogs, everyone loves my dogs and they are not dangerous dogs.”

He said he hadn’t decided if he was going to stay in Rockhampton or go back to Gayndah.

“I’ll just wait and see what happens,” he said.

Mr Lovett was one of many people in the Rockhampton region experiencing or at risk of homelessness who attended the Rockhampton Showgrounds on Thursday for the council’s annual Homeless Connect event.

Councillor Drew Wickerson said the success of the event was a testament to all the agencies, businesses, community members and council working together to make it happen.

“This event takes months of preparation behind the scenes and we couldn’t do it alone,” Mr Wickerson said.

“It is always a rewarding experience working together with all the agencies to support those who are doing it tough.

“And being able to connect people with services, be it health care to housing, medical checks to mental health support and much more, shows that we really do care about them and want to offer them our support.

“For some people, the meal they received here today might be the only one they have in days, or they might pick up pantry items that will help feed their family for the rest of this week.”

Vinnies Rockhampton president Phil Cranny said it was heartbreaking to see more and more local families coming to the charity desperate to find housing as Rockhampton’s vacancy rates dropped to 0.4 per cent.

Mr Cranny said with rental prices increasing people were struggling to make ends meet.

“People have to make decisions whether it is housing, food, clothes, schooling,” he said.

Vinnies Rockhampton president Phil Cranny. Picture: Wade Lewis Art

“We can strive to keep people in their housing by helping them with food and clothing and helping with school and in some cases helping with rent too.”

He said a “broad spectrum” of people were going to the charity for help, including a young mother from the Capricorn Coast who was struggling to get by with paying her rent amid Christmas and back to school.

“We were able to help her with paying her rent,” he said.

“That was an extraordinary case.

“She had never been to us before and she hasn’t been back to us since. Trying to see people stay in the housing is a really strong thing for us to do.

“We are running out of options – crisis accommodation centres are all full, affordable accommodation is next to impossible to find and the waiting list for social housing is growing by the day.

“It’s the most vulnerable in our communities that are suffering the most in this crisis and until we see significant action from our leaders, the situation will continue to worsen.”

REIQ Zone chairman for Rockhampton and Professionals principal Noel Livingston said the Rockhampton rental market was seeing a combination of increased demand and decreased supply, which he described as a “nightmare situation”.

“Quite a few things have created jobs in town so you have extra demand by virtue of that,” Mr Livingston said.

REIQ Zone Chairman for Rockhampton and Professionals principal Noel Livingston.

“You also have a situation where a lot of the properties that are being sold were ex-rental properties because at one point they had been for sale but couldn’t achieve the prices they wanted but now they can.

“There has been more interest in investment properties in recent times.

“Hopefully we can find an equilibrium there somewhere down the track but the problem is far from sorted.”

He said rental prices in the Rockhampton region had increased.

“You are putting a place up for rent and getting 30-40 applications,” he said.

“The owner then tries to maximise their return, which they are allowed to do.”

In January, Wandal and Allenstown were named in the top 20 suburbs in Queensland that were hardest to rent in, with Yeppoon also named in the top 10.

Mr Livingstone said there was strong demand in Wandal and Allenstown for rentals and sales.

“You have the hospitals and major schools in those areas,” he said.

“As the supply decreases the demand gets out of control.”

Calls to address the housing crisis

Vinnies Queensland is calling for a commitment of a multi-billion investment in national social housing and development of a national housing strategy to address the state’s ongoing housing crisis in the lead up to the federal election on Saturday.

The charity is also calling for immediate relief to increase the Commonwealth Rental Assistance supplement by 50 per cent to keep Queenslanders housed, and keep up with growing rental costs and costs of living.

“Rent prices continue to increase throughout the state and the average Australian surviving on minimum wage or Jobseeker is struggling to keep up,” Mr Cranny said.

“An increase to the maximum Commonwealth Rental Assistance rate by 50 per cent will go a long way in helping our most vulnerable residents.”

He said a commitment to a national housing strategy and the construction of 5000 social housing dwellings in Queensland each year for the next 10 years would be critical to keep up with rising demand.

“We have needed a significant investment in social and affordable housing for some time, and recent record interstate migration and low interest rates have brought the situation to a critical point,” he said.

“In Rockhampton we have more than 700 applications for social housing and a waiting time of 16 months.

“Social housing is usually seen as a state issue, but with multiple states in a crisis situation, we are calling for a united approach that sees our federal, state and local government leaders working together on a solution.”

The charity is also calling for the National Rental Affordability Scheme to be reinstated.