Queensland’s first full-time night sanctuary for rough sleepers will open within two years, with more than 100 rough sleepers able to stay every night.
Housing Minister Sam O’Connor announced a $7.3 million investment into the Emmanuel City Mission, in South Brisbane, to refurbish the facility.
“The night sanctuary, at the moment, is up and running for just one night a week, for around 30 vulnerable people,” O’Connor said.
“This funding investment will mean there are 110 beds available for vulnerable Queenslanders.”
Emmanuel City Mission founder Roby Curtis said the refurbishments would mean the rooms on the upper storeys of the mission could be converted into private sleeping quarters available every night.
Unlike crisis accommodation, rough sleepers will not need to show identification to access the sanctuary.
Andreas Cielicki, who had been sleeping rough for about a decade, said he regularly came to the mission to access basic amenities.
“When Roby opened up down the road, it gave me a place to have a shower every day, to get a meal every day – [and] even though the meals were sausages on bread for the first three years, I appreciated it,” he said.
Cielicki said he had never stayed in the mission overnight, as the current conditions meant he would need to sleep on a trundle bed laid out in a room shared with others.
“I struggle to be in the same room with a lot of people,” he said.
The state announced the investment as part of $450 million earmarked for specialist homelessness services in the 2026-27 financial year.
O’Connor said the project was possible due to the building’s “good bones” and a deal made with developer Mosaic Property Group, who are renovating the building for below cost.
The announcement comes as the state government is under pressure to supply more affordable and social housing, with more than 26,000 applicants on the waitlist for social housing.
A recent audit of the housing department found it had not implemented all the recommendations from a previous audit, meaning it was not managing the waitlist efficiently.
The government committed an extra $100 million to social and affordable housing in the budget, topping up $5.6 billion from the previous year, and pledged to build 2000 such homes a year.
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