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.
A makeshift homeless encampment under the Riverside Expressway in Brisbane’s CBD. Credit: Courtney Kruk
“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.”
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