‘Urgent’ housing crisis accommodation fix still sitting dormant two months after government’s promise

Two months after the state government declared disused accommodation at a South East Queensland university would be converted to help tackle Queensland’s housing crisis, no significant on-site works have commenced.

Two months after the state government declared disused student beds at Griffith University would be converted into emergency accommodation to help tackle Queensland’s housing crisis, no significant on-site works have commenced.

In mid-September following the government’s housing roundtable to address the crisis, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the university had offered unused accommodation buildings to help house Queenslanders struggling with finding homes.

“Griffith University approached my government and identified 200 beds of unused student accommodation at its Mount Gravatt campus that it could offer up for emergency accommodation,” she said at the time.

“Nothing is more important than having a roof over your head – it’s a basic need – and the stories of people without secure housing are heartbreaking.

“This will increase crisis accommodation available for people in need and help solve one of the multiple housing issues.”

But when The Courier-Mail attended the site this week, no significant works had begun and buildings remained bare.

Bundara at Griffith University Mount Gravatt. The accommodation was to be used to help with people not being able to find rental properties. The Government after making the announcement has done nothing of note with the accommodation buildings at Griffith Campus.

Opposition leader David Crisafulli accused the government of making it “all about the announcement and not delivering for Queenslanders”.

“A day is an age for someone who doesn’t have a roof over their head and not lifting a finger for 57 days is no one’s version of acting quickly,” he said.

“Good governments plan and deliver, not announce and walk away.

“We need an infrastructure pipeline to open up more supply, an ambitious partnership with the community housing sector and social houses built on time and on budget.”

At the time of the announcement Deputy Premier Steven Miles thanked Griffith University for the proposal, saying the government would “work quickly” to get the facility up and running.

Questions to the government about when any refurbishment works would begin, and what was the timeline for people to be able to use the facility for emergency housing went unanswered on Friday.

Bundara at Griffith University Mount Gravatt.

A government spokeswoman said “this project is currently in the planning stages and we’re working as quickly as possible to assist people in housing need”.

They also said “in the meantime we’re also working with industry and community on other ways to tackle housing challenges in Queensland”, and pointed towards the Queensland Housing Summit.

The spokeswoman said since the summit the government had taken a number of steps, including lifting restrictions on renting granny flats, investing $200m to accelerate investment in infrastructure to unlock land for new housing, and unlocking almost 50,000 residential lots.

Pictured is an interior of one of the halls at Bundara.

LNP housing spokeswoman Tim Mander said “families are being forced to live in cars and tents while the Palaszczuk Government makes announcements and fails to deliver”.

“The cost of their failure to deliver in this instance means some people who could’ve had a helping hand will spend Christmas on the streets,” he said.

Originally published as ‘Urgent’ housing crisis accommodation fix still sitting dormant two months after government’s promise