Queensland to stump up $600m to ease homelessness crisis
Queensland has announced it will invest hundreds of millions of dollars into crisis accommodation and homelessness services, amid cries that the state is whittling down support for rough sleepers.
Housing Minister Sam O'Connor said the funding totalled almost $600 million over four years, and would include an extra 20 per cent for specialist homelessness services, and $365 million for emergency accommodation.
'This is both our hotel and motel accommodations, where we have thousands of vulnerable Queenslanders staying at the moment because there's nowhere else for them to go,' O'Connor told reporters after giving the keynote speech at the National Homelessness Conference on Tuesday.
'It's also more than doubling our headleasing program … where we will take a lease out on a private market property and will help support the tenant to have a safe and secure place to call home while we find them a more permanent, longer-term solution.'
The announcement came a week before the Liberal National Party was set to deliver its first Queensland budget since Premier David Crisafulli took power in October.
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It also follows announcements last week that public housing tenants would face a 'three strikes and you're out' rule if found to have breached the terms of their tenancy, and that social housing tenants earning over the income thresholds would face eviction.
Meanwhile, people sleeping rough in Brisbane's CBD have faced increased uncertainty after moves to remove tents from public parks in the wake of Cyclone Alfred.
Asked whether it was too difficult for vulnerable Queenslanders to access crisis accommodation, O'Connor said new rules that came into effect this year made the policy 'more targeted'.
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