Queensland pledges 1,200 new social homes on eve of state budget.

Extract from The Guardian

Queensland politics

Queensland Council of Social Service says more needs to be done, with families living in cars, tents and motels.

A public housing apartment in Brisbane. More than 50,000 Queenslanders are currently on the waiting list for social housing.

Australian Associated Press

Mon 20 Jun 2022 10.45 AEST

Last modified on Mon 20 Jun 2022 10.48 AEST

Up to 1,200 new social and affordable homes will be built in Queensland as the state government faces pressure to ease housing stress on the eve of the budget.

Public funding for the new homes will come from the returns of the state’s $1bn housing investment fund, announced as part of last year’s budget.

The projects will be delivered through a partnership between Brisbane Housing Company (BHC) and the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC).

“When applications opened for the $1bn housing investment fund, we told the market we were seeking proposals which identified new solutions to deliver housing for vulnerable Queenslanders,” the state’s treasurer, Cameron Dick, said.

From a soap opera to tragic reality: the struggle to find a home as a vulnerable single mother

Read more

“[The partnership] will see BHC leverage QIC’s strong track record of securing and managing institutional investment to deliver new social and affordable housing.”

The announcement was welcomed by the Queensland Council of Social Service, but CEO Aimee McVeigh said there was more to be done.

“There are Queensland women and children right now living in cars, tents and motels because there is nowhere else to go; there are elderly people couch surfing; there are children growing up in domestic violence shelters because there is nowhere else to go,” she said.

“We don’t just need a record funding announcement, we need sustained funding and more houses built at a much faster pace.”

The latest state government figures show more than 50,000 Queenslanders are currently waiting on the social housing register, QCOSS said.

Construction of the first seven projects under the new partnership will begin between 2023 and 2025, and deliver about half of the 1,200 new homes, the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said.

“Queensland’s population is growing. We believe every Queenslander deserves a safe home to live in and a secure roof over their head,” she said on Facebook on Monday.

The combined capital value is estimated to be $250m and the projects will support 225 construction jobs.

Last month the government announced the first two projects from the Housing Investment Fund, located in Chermside and Redcliffe.