Calls to reopen night shelter to get itinerants off city streets
A leading Cairns businessman is campaigning to have a 40-bed shelter near Cairns City reopened in a bid to clean up the streets and give the homeless somewhere to sleep.
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A prominent Cairns businessman is seething over the prolonged closure of the Anglicare-run Quigley Street night shelter, and unhappy with the state government’s inaction.
CBRE managing director Danny Betros said itinerants and others sleeping rough were causing havoc in Cairns City with anti-social and drunken behaviour, and they could be relocated to Quigley St when the Lyons St Diversionary Centre – an alternative to the watch-house for heavily intoxicated people – was full.
The centre, with its 40-bed dormitory-style accommodation, was deemed “not fit for purpose” at the start of the pandemic, and the government padlocked the doors.
It remains boarded up, although there are reports homeless people are breaking in to it to sleep there, leaving early in the morning.
“Quigley St has been mentioned repeatedly by the police as a quick solution to relocating homeless from the streets of Cairns – it’s still closed, and there’s no indication of its future use,” Mr Betros said.
“Why is this still not being used and what can be done – we need action.
“The behaviour of itinerants on the Esplanade is repulsive and doing Cairns’ reputation irreparable damage,” he said.
“It is bewildering to me and so many other Cairns residents – it comes up every day in conversation – how our leadership allows the situation to continue and just accepts that it is too hard, no action, just buck passing.”
The Cairns Post contacted State Housing Minister Leeanne Enoch about future plans for Quigley St but did not get a response.
State MP for Cairns Michael Healy said the facility was still leased to Anglicare and there was a “review process underway”.
“The Queensland Government is committed to the continued provision of crisis accommodation for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness,” Mr Healy said in a statement.
Mr Betros was furious with the response.
“This is a typical government bull**** response that says nothing, what absolute rubbish,” he fumed.
“Why isn’t it fit for purpose? If it needs some repairs then surely it can be done quickly and reopened – it doesn’t have to be five star, this is crazy,” Mr Betros said.
Mr Healy said the government was weighing up options.
“We’re trying to find out whether the building is suitable for anything, it was not seen as appropriate to be used during Covid, we’re looking at whether we put something new there,” Mr Healy said.
“It is not an adequate facility as crisis accommodation.”
He highlighted the $4m upgrade of the Lyons St Diversionary Centre, from 36 beds to a 50-bed facility, with a new women’s section.
“It needs to be expanded as well as expanding health staff in there, science is telling us this helps reduce the amount of people in the region needing the service, so it is a positive thing,” Mr Healy said.
Cairns Housing and Homelessness Network chair Sally Watson has said with Quigley St shut, there was nowhere to refer people for one-night stays.
Anglicare North Queensland chief executive Liz Colahan has said the government owned the Quigley St property and a “caretaker” lease arrangement meant the service provider was in a holding pattern.
Anglicare has focused on its Qhome night shelter at Manunda.
Things got heated at a business breakfast in July when Federal MP for Leichhardt Warren Entsch took Mr Healy to task over the issue.
“Take the boards down, undo the padlock, invest some money in it to get it up to scratch and get somebody in there that can operate it and provide a safe place where homeless can come in,” Mr Entsch said.
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Originally published as Calls to reopen night shelter to get itinerants off city streets
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