Lack of social housing to hit ‘crisis situation’ if solution not found

Every day, hundreds of families desperately seek permanent housing in Toowoomba. Now, the situation is hitting a crisis point.

Lifeline Darling Downs and South West CEO Derek Tuffield. Picture: Kevin Farmer

A crisis situation is approaching Toowoomba with every day that a social housing solution is not proposed, according to Lifeline Darling Downs CEO Derek Tuffield.

Mr Tuffield maintains that 600 social houses are desperately needed in Toowoomba to cater to the hundreds of families struggling to find accommodation right now, and to assist families in the future.

“We’re going to see more people relocating to Queensland in the next six months and that will increase pressure on the housing market,” he said.

A Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy told The Chronicle the government was already investing millions into public housing.

“Through the $1.6 billion Housing Construction Jobs program, the largest investment in social housing since World War Two, the Queensland Government has committed $24 million to deliver 58 new social homes in the Toowoomba region by June 2022,” they said.

Mr Tuffield said families were cramming themselves into dwellings purely to put a roof over their heads in the meantime.

“It’s not decreasing, if anything it’s increasing,” he said.”

From migrant families who have just arrived in Australia to women fleeing domestic and family violence, countless groups are in desperate need of permanent, long-term accommodation solutions.

“There is a real need out there,” Mr Tuffield said.