Toowoomba social housing: St Vincent de Paul joins boom as more than 200 dwellings to be created across city

Toowoomba is experiencing a social housing boom, with the government and major charities advancing several projects to add hundreds of dwellings for vulnerable people.

One of Queensland’s largest charities has joined Toowoomba’s social housing boom, as both the state government and organisations look to bolster the city’s depleted public stocks by more than 200 dwellings.

St Vincent de Paul is the latest group to indicate it’s ramping up affordable housing construction in the form of two projects on land it owns in two suburbs.

Once completed, it will create more than 60 new dwellings to shelter and support some of the city’s most vulnerable residents.

Toowoomba regional president Peter Cavanagh said St Vinnie’s had already signed a contract with the state to build 27 townhouses on the corner of Hill and Tor streets in Newtown.

Peter Cavanagh of St Vincent de Paul Society. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“We own land on that corner — we had built up a parcel of land there, with the intention of building on it,” he said.

“We’re going to build 27 townhouses, mostly the demand is for one-bedrooms, but there are some with more.

“We signed the contract in July after jumping through all sorts of hurdles, and that’s now in the detailed design and town planning stage.”

Mr Cavanagh said the more ambitious project was a demolition of the charity’s popular South Toowoomba op-shop, with the intention of building a unit complex holding upwards of 40 social dwellings, a new clothing shop and housing St Vinnies’ local administration team.

St Vincent de Paul’s longstanding op shop in South Toowoomba.

“The contract hasn’t been signed yet, that is one of two (and it is) an intention to build social housing, upwards of 40 units in an apartment block,” he said. “St Vincent de Paul has a subsidiary called the Housing Company, and it manages 500 dwellings across Queensland, some for the government and some owned by us.

“That organisation will take on the management of those new dwellings and we’ll also wrap around support services for the people living in those places.”

BHC ready to lodge DA as Salvos approved for CBD social housing

The projects are two of at least six social housing developments across Toowoomba being advanced currently by either the government or private groups.

The Brisbane Housing Company has also revealed it was moving ahead with its plan for a 75-unit mixed development in the Toowoomba CBD.

A spokeswoman for the company told News Corp it was looking to lodge plans for the project with the Toowoomba Regional Council soon.

Concept art for a new social and affordable housing project planned for Station Street in the Toowoomba CBD. Designs by Arkefield.

“We will move to construction commencement as soon as possible after planning approval and then project mobilisation is complete,” she said.

“BHC continues to work collaboratively with council to progress the planning and development process and we are committed to doing all we can to bring these 75 new homes to life as quickly as possible for the Toowoomba community.”

The new complex, which would involve a mixture of social, rent-controlled and private dwellings, is slated for land on Station St that the council voted to sell to BHC in September last year.

The Salvation Army has been approved by the state government, through a ministerial infrastructure designation, for a 23-unit social housing project on Snell Street in Toowoomba City.

It comes as the Salvation Army was approved for a five-storey social housing tower on Snell St having received a ministerial infrastructure designation from the state government in July. The project will add another 23 dwellings to social housing.

Artist concept drawings of how a new 19-unit social housing project in Newtown may look.

Government advances 100 new dwelling across Darling Downs

The state government has also moved ahead with its own public housing, after revealing on Monday it had awarded a $7m contract to McNab Construction for 19 new units on Hursley Road in Newtown.

The units will be part of a pipeline of 100 government-owned social homes slated for the Darling Downs region, which will support more than 100 jobs during construction.

It is also understood a management tender will be awarded soon on the government’s $10.6m purchase of the old Aveo retirement village on Bridge Street.

Announced earlier this year, the project will support more than 50 people once it is ready for use.

The state government has bought the old Aveo Freedom aged care and retirement village on Bridge Street in Newtown for $10.6m, through agent CBRE.