Gold Coast public housing plan would meet ‘just two per cent’ of need, social services watchdog claims

A plan to build almost 100 homes in southeast Queensland would fix just two per cent of the Gold Coast’s housing waitlist, a social services watchdog has revealed. FIND OUT THE DETAILS

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A PLAN to build almost 100 homes in southeast Queensland would fix just two per cent of the Gold Coast’s housing waitlist, a social services watchdog has revealed.

The Queensland Council of Social Services said the city “desperately” needed public housing investment to support struggling families citywide.

The information has sparked a war of words between Housing Minister Leeanne Enoch and Southport MP Rob Molhoek, who called on Labor to set aside $1 billion for an extra 2000 homes per year.

QCOSS CEO Aimee McVeigh said the government’s social housing stimulus program – a $100 million Works for Tradies plan – would build just 70 homes in the southeastern region.

“To put that into perspective, there are more than 2700 families on the Gold Coast on the social housing waitlist,” she said.

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“Even if every one of those 70 homes were built on the Gold Coast, it would address just two per cent of the need in the region.

“It is disappointing to see no substantial commitment from the state government to build new public housing.

“A month ago, we saw the Victorian government commit a historic $5.3 billion to building 12,000 new social housing dwellings.

Rob Molhoek MP. Picture: Jerad Williams

“We desperately need the same kind of investment on the Gold Coast and across Queensland.”

The Works for Tradies plan, announced by then-Housing Minister Mick de Brenni in July, will build a total 215 new homes across Queensland in an effort to create jobs for licensed builders.

Mr Molhoek has now called for action to help “struggling Queenslanders get a roof over their heads”.

The Bulletin has previously reported on a “100-strong army of homeless” living in the Southport CBD, as well as a “tent city” removed by council in the suburb in 2020.

Mr Molhoek said 16,270 applications at “critical need” level were still on the waiting list, a 50 per cent spike on the previous year.

The overall waiting list totals 26,397.

“That is just not good enough from this government,” he said.

“As we learnt from the recent State Budget, the Palaszczuk Government are borrowing more and more to fund government operations with Queensland’s debt set to skyrocket to $130 billion.

“Labor’s extra 40,000 public servants costs approximately $5 billion per annum.

Leanne Enoch. (AAP Image/Jono Searle)

“Surely it would have been of greater benefit to set aside $1 billion a year of this overspend to employ more builders for the construction of an extra 2000 homes a year.”

His comments drew scorn from Ms Enoch, who said it would be a “Christmas miracle” if the LNP “ever really cared about social housing”.

“We take a person centred approach to social housing need,” she said, adding in the past financial year more than 220,000 forms of housing assistance were provided to Queensland households in need.

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“Our $1.6 billion Housing Construction Jobs Program will deliver over 5500 social housing and affordable homes by 2027 and is the largest investment in social housing since WWII.

“And we also support people to access housing in the private market.”

“This is in stark contrast to the LNP who cut people from the register when they were in government, for something as simple as not responding to a letter, and oversaw the 90 per cent reduction in new social housing construction.”

PUBLIC HOUSING STATISTICS REVEALED

ALMOST 5000 bedrooms are needed to house the number of Gold Coasters on the public housing register, new data has revealed.

A total 4973 people were on the register as of June 30, with almost half of the applications listed as “very high” priority.

The number of applicants, some of whom have been on the register for more than 20 years, means a total 4829 bedrooms are needed.

The numbers, released by the State Government in late December 2020, have increased from the 4543 waiting at the same time in 2019, when 4348 bedrooms were needed.

Social services watchdog the Queensland Council of Social Service said after the State budget was released: “The Palaszczuk Government failed to make game changing structural investments in public housing and social services.

“The Queensland social housing waitlist increased by 22 per cent from 2018 to 2019, while the waitlist for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander housing programs increased by 25 per cent in the same time.”

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Originally published as Gold Coast public housing plan would meet ‘just two per cent’ of need, social services watchdog claims