Planned $10b housing fund ‘solution’ to Far North crisis

Plans to funnel $10b into social housing has been welcomed by an under pressure Cairns accommodation sector but concerns have surfaced about the end to a wage supplement key to keeping frontline workers in jobs.

Draft federal legislation aiming to funnel $10b into social housing has been welcomed by an under pressure Cairns accommodation sector but concerns have surfaced about the end to a wage supplement key to keeping frontline workers in jobs.

On Friday Labor Senator Nita Green drummed up support for the Housing Australia Future Fund under which $100m will be allocated to house women escaping domestic violence and $200m will be used to fund the repair of remote Indigenous housing, including at Yarrabah.

A woman asleep on the footpath outside the Anglicare office on Bunda St, Cairns. Picture: Peter Carruthers

The draft legislation is expected to come before the Senate during the March sitting of parliament.

Given a desperate housing situation in Cairns – evidenced by a woman sleeping in the street meters from where Ms Green spoke to media outside the Anglicare office on Bunda St – the Queensland Senator said if passed the fund would make a difference.

“This is our answer, this is our solution and it’s something that we promised before the election,” she said.

“All we need is for the other senators who represent Queensland to support this legislation so that we can get it through the Senate to make sure that we can deliver these houses as soon as possible.”

Queensland Senator Nita Green outlines objectives of the Housing Australia Future Fund draft legislation to be debated at the next sitting of federal parliament later this month. Picture: Peter Carruthers

But heading into the May budget QShelter has raised concern that discontinuing a scheme worth $68m to supplement higher wages, mandated by the Fair Work Commission, would have major implications for the low cost housing industry, including the loss of 80 frontline workers statewide.

Q Shelter’s executive director Fiona Caniglia said that without urgent action in the coming months service providers would have no choice but to reduce the number of workers they employ.

The Quigley St night shelter was deemed not fit for purpose at the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020 and has been closed since. Picture: Brendan Radke

“Hundreds of workers will lose their jobs and these critical services will be cut at a time of surge demand on homelessness services, amid a housing crisis in Queensland,” she said.

Ms Green declined to give a hard guarantee that cash allocated under the Housing Australia Future Fund would be used to get the languishing Quigley Street Night Shelter operational or the recently terminated homeless respite services provided by Wheels of Wellness.

A homeless woman and man sleep on a garden bed in the Shields Street Mall. Picture: Brendan Radke

Shelter Housing Action Cairns executive officer Sally Watson said funding of social and community services wage supplement was now a matter for the state but to date no commitment to the subsidy had been forthcoming.

Sally Watson is the CEO of Shelter Housing Action Cairns. Picture: Brendan Radke

She estimated 10-15 frontline Cairns staff could lose their jobs if the state government did not fund the scheme.

“I would question the genuineness of the state government if they can’t fund this award gap,” she said.

Ms Watson wholeheartedly supported the Housing Australia Future Fund.

“We have to welcome that and it’s well targeted to address the re-occurring issue of domestic violence known to be a key cause of homelessness,” she said.

“And Indigenous housing needs to be fixed so badly it’s not funny.”

Follow @petercarruther1

Originally published as Planned $10b housing fund ‘solution’ to Far North crisis