Hitting Home campaign: Qld homelessness crisis laid bare as rental crisis bites

People living rough say the Queensland’s homelessness crisis is getting worse, with confronting scenes across the state and children as young as six children roaming the streets.

Confronting mental health episodes, people “shooting up” in the showers, Vinnies vouchers traded for booze, these are the commonalities faced by Queensland’s growing homeless community.

Some families have resorted to living in their cars, others are staying in tent communities beneath Brisbane City bridges, but all say they’ve noticed a monumental increase in people living on the streets.

Michelle, who has decided to conceal her real name due to safety reasons, has been living on Brisbane streets for 15 years and says everyone’s situation is different.

“The worst of the worst is (people) waking up in their own vomit and they’ve been robbed or beaten up, so there’s different grades, you know, it’s just like any part of society.

“I’m in a boarding house that’s a s***hole but I’ve been there four years in November.

“It’s not great but its not the worst, I’m having showers at my gym because are people shooting up in the showers there.”

The homeless community living under the William Jolly Bridge in Brisbane’s inner-city. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Not far from where Michelle stays under the William Jolly Bridge, lies a different kind of homeless community.

Tents are pitched along bridge walls safe from wet weather, sleeping bags are strewn all over the ground and a communal pop up table with cooking equipment sits off to the centre.

The group of new friends sit on milk creates, surrounded by trolleys filled with their last possessions.

Two group members, Ronnie and Kayla, said living under the bridge is one of the better options available to them while the wait to be placed in social housing.

“We’re just playing the waiting game,” Ronnie said.

“I’ve got two kids, one and three, who are in child safety now, and I’m also on the domestic violence waiting list,” Kayla said.

The tent community looks out for each other, adopting a safety in numbers approach to living.

Ronnie says Brisbane City Council provided the group unofficial permission to stay tucked away under the bridge but concerns are growing over the many young children they’ve noticed emerge onto the streets.

Ronnie says the homeless community has “unofficial permission” to stay under the bridge. Picture: Steve Pohlner

“It’s getting way worse. I’ve seen kids young as 10, maybe younger, even six,” Kayla said.
“Some of them don’t even have families.”

Michelle said she too is concerned about the growing number of homeless people and the psychological toll it’s taking on the existing homeless community and their safety.

She used an example of the Brisbane Streetlevel Salvation Army service being suspended after a man walked into the weekly free barbecue and “slit his wrists” in front of everyone.

“The staff member that tried to assist him but (the man) was let down by mental health services,” she said. “This is an example of the wraparound services that have s***loads of funding and where are they?

“We don’t know him so it’s hard to support him at the extreme coalface and it will be very, very hard for him to make friends and make connection now, in many respects he is going to make disconnection because he’s upset a lot of people.

“They (Salvation Army) are now employing a security guard for the rest of the week because of him.”

Charities feeding the homeless in Brisbane’s Musgrave Park. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Michelle said confronting mental health episodes are common, and called for more support services for homeless people struggling with both mental health and addiction.

“I know a woman who has nearly lost her belongings, living in a car in Red Hill somewhere and she’s made a gofund me to try and keep afloat because she’s saying she’s not ready enough for another layer of homeless, she’s just not going to cope.

“Another guy came to street level and said he didn’t need a feed, just shoes.

“I can’t stand him, we’re in totally different circles, but I gave him a $25 Vinnies voucher and he’ll turn that into alcohol because he’s not into drugs, he’s into alcohol.”

Michelle said life on the streets was noticeably different during Covid when many people had access to more money through the pandemic payments, but it was a steep decline after payments stopped and cost of living began to soar.

She said she doesn’t believe government funding is trickling down to the community level.

“Back in the day, if you needed a couple of nights respite because you’re just exhausted couch surfing or whatever, you would get something but you’ve got no f***ing chance of that now,” she said.

“We need to stop all of these top heavy referral agencies that are using funding, because how much of that funding does an individual see? Not a bloody lot.

“We’re like human batteries for the (funding) cycle, it’s all bureaucracy, just a f***ing merry-go-round.”

Originally published as Hitting Home campaign: Qld homelessness crisis laid bare as rental crisis bites