Why proposed Scarborough St housing tower will be unlike any previously built on Gold Coast

From the pictures, this tower looks like many others proposed on the Gold Coast. But it could hardly be more different. Here’s what makes it so unique.

One of the most heartbreaking stories this columnist has encountered was that of a young woman who died from drowning almost exactly a year ago, on Father’s Day 2022.

Tanya Blundell had mental health issues. She found some solace in the drug ice, however it caused its inevitable traumas.

She worked hard to escape its evil grip, attending rehab on multiple occasions.

But there was a problem. Her home was a social housing block in Paradise Point, where low quality single bed units were often filled with tenants with issues of their own.

Some of those tenants were pushers. When she returned from rehab, clean and wanting to stay that way, they would terrorise her, banging on her door at all hours, smashing her windows, until she succumbed again.

Some of the mates those tenants invited to visit them at the complex also contributed to the havoc.

The police were called multiple times, but there was only so much they could do.

It was a terrible environment in which to place a vulnerable young woman. Her devastated mother Chris told me she had little doubt it had contributed to her beloved daughter’s passing.

Tanya Blundell tragically died on September 4 last year.

In the context of that sad story and other similar tales, this columnist found an announcement by the state government last Friday of particular interest.

Oddly for an administration with an army of spinners it was almost entirely overlooked, in part because it was combined with the revelation about land being freed up for housing at the Health and Knowledge precinct. But its significance was massive.

The state is planning to build a tower with 150 units on Scarborough St in Southport quite unlike any previously delivered on the Gold Coast.

“(It) will be a supportive housing model,” Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon said.

“ … This is a model which is not just housing, it provides all of those extra wraparound supports. So access for healthcare for people who often might have some more complex needs, who need that additional assistance to live as independently as possible.”

In explaining how it would work, Minister Scanlon referenced a similar complex in Brisbane which has been run for the last 11 years by a company called Common Ground Queensland.

Its CEO Sue Pope told this column the Brisbane project – the first of its kind in this state – had a massive impact on the lives of its tenants, who were a mix of people on low incomes and people who had been homeless.

“(Providing) the housing first is really important, but lots of people would be unable to sustain a tenancy without that 24/7 intensive support,” Ms Pope said.

“Common Ground Queensland in Brisbane partners with Micah Projects, who provide the support services 24/7 for our tenants in the building.

“Those services include case management, psycho-social support and health support.

“ … A by-product to that is it reduces the use of state-funded services like mental health services, ambulance services, police, the court system. It creates a saving to the state government.”

Crucially, security is also provided 24/7, with visitors having to sign in, ensuring the kind of terrifying havoc experienced by tenants at Paradise Point is avoided.

An artist's impression of a proposed social housing block on Scarborough St in Southport which would be the first in the Gold Coast to use the supportive housing model.

Ms Pope said the results in Brisbane to date have been impressive, with many people putting their troubles behind them to return to study or work.

There was never any pressure to leave, but when people did move on, it was usually to a far better life than the one they had when they arrived.

“The vast majority of our exits are under positive circumstances,” Ms Pope said.

“We’ve had a number of people here who have been studying, and they’ve finished their study and moved on to employment and moved on to other accommodation.

“We’ve had people leave to get married, or to move closer to family.

“All of the usual reasons that people move on.”

Items belonging to homeless people seen on a street in Southport. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

The fact the Gold Coast project is slated to be built at Scarborough St is another positive factor – a neat answer to anyone who has ever suggested something needed to be done to help the people rough-sleeping in the area.

They are among the roughly 300 sleeping on the streets of the city every night. Many more bed down in tents, the backs of cars, in motels or boarding houses, or on a friend’s sofa.

Fiona Caniglia, who is executive director of advocacy group Q Shelter, said the supportive housing model was badly needed.

“There has been a lot of work done on the Gold Coast looking at supportive housing models to address the need of chronic homelessness on the Coast,” Ms Caniglia said.

“That work has included the local Gold Coast Homelessness Network, the business community, housing and services providers, and all levels of government. It’s great to see that need identified.

“Earlier this year, Community Housing Industry Association and UNSW City Futures Research Centre identified the Gold Coast as the region with the highest levels of unmet housing need in the country.”

The record of the state government in terms of providing social housing up until now has been poor.

The quantity has been nowhere near enough, and as at Paradise Point, the quality has sometimes also been lacking.

News of the planned for Scarborough St development hopefully marks a serious turning point on both counts.

One that could help, in a positive way, to clear the rough-sleepers from Southport streets.

And to save vulnerable people from suffering in the same way as Tanya Blundell did before her sad passing on Father’s Day last year.

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