Surge in tent cities as Qld rental prices continue to skyrocket

Article by Elena Couper I 28 March

Heartbreaking photos have confirmed fears of a deepening housing crisis, with more and more Queenslanders forced to live in cars and “tent cities”.

Calls for more short-term and crisis accommodation come ahead of the state government’s housing summit on Tuesday, as advocacy groups reach “their wits’ end”.

Queensland Council of Social Service chief executive Aimee McVeigh said on Monday morning the situation had deteriorated into “an absolute crisis”.

“We need a strategy to get us out of the housing crisis — that means significantly more supply,” she told Sunrise.

“We do have families, mothers and children, living in cars, tents and hotel rooms across (the state) right now.”

On Monday, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk opened the QBuild Rapid Accommodation and Apprenticeship Centre – a new Brisbane factory producing prefabricated house frames and flat-packed rooms.

It is hoped the Eagle Farm factory will help pump more housing supply quickly into the market, with many of the exported houses destined to be homes for regional government employees.

“These state-of-the-art factory-built houses for our frontline workers are critical to delivering essential services to regional Queenslanders while easing the pressure on rental markets,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“This facility will deliver new homes for our frontline nurses, teachers, and police in regional and remote Queensland, along with safe, affordable and appropriate social housing for the community’s most vulnerable.”

QBuild is part of the government’s $519.2m Government Employee Housing construction package promising to build 439 homes over the next five years.

The latest data from SQM Research revealed a 16.7 per cent increase in the asking weekly rental price for a house in Brisbane over the past 12 months.

Over the same period, there has been a massive 27.1 per cent increase on the average asking cost of a unit in the city.

Ms McVeigh said the rate of homelessness had grown by 22 per cent since 2017, compared to only eight per cent growth across the rest of the nation.

“It is really understandable that we do expect all options to be on the table,” she said.

“We do need more short-term and crisis accommodation here in Queensland.”

Calls to repurpose Covid-19 quarantine facilities into crisis accommodation were previously rejected by the state government, with Ms McVeigh confirming there was “absolutely no way” such options could be used for housing.

“It is the case that there will be facilities that are not fit for purpose because of transport or, for example, it is not OK to put women escaping domestic violence in a known location,” she said.

“When we are giving out tents … (and) sleeping bags to children, we are not doing the work that we need to be doing.

“This is absolutely not business as usual.”

A new QCOSS report revealed homelessness was growing rapidly among older people aged 55 and over, rising 6 per cent over the four years to 2020-21.

People impacted by mental illness and those recently discharged from prison added to the sharp increase in homelessness.

It is predicted that by the end of the year the state government’s QBuild facility will have completed 93 builds, including 14 on Palm Island, two on Warraber Island, three on Thursday Island and three on Mer Island, among others.

“Our government is committed to pulling every lever, and looking at every option, to address the Queensland housing challenge,” Ms Palaszczuk said.