About 1,600 Queenslanders have been added to the state’s social housing register in just a few months, as the housing crisis worsens for families.

New social housing figures out today show the number of Queenslanders waiting for a home has risen from 41,484 on June 30 this year, to 43,074 at the end of September.

That’s despite the number of applications for social housing decreasing by two, as a result of fewer single person households applying for a social home.

QCOSS CEO Aimee McVeigh said the extra $23 million in funding announced by the Queensland Government this morning for Immediate Housing Response for Families was desperately needed and welcomed by the sector.

“More and more families are struggling to find a suitable home as they face extraordinarily low vacancy rates and soaring rents in the current housing and cost of living crises,” Ms McVeigh said.

“Community services are continuing to report a rise in people seeking help for housing and homelessness, especially families. We’ve also been told that many Queenslanders are not even bothering to apply for social housing given the wait times and very low-income thresholds, which the Government is currently reviewing.

“We welcome the Queensland Government’s continued focus on housing, but we need to see a rapid increase in housing supply if we are going to come even close to fixing the current crisis.

“We need to see 2,700 social homes alone built every year across the state, for the next decade, to make a difference, and we look forward to the impending release of the Queensland Government’s new long-term plan for housing. Never has a long-term housing plan been so important.”

Today’s social housing figures, the first ever release of September quarter data, show:

• The number of Queenslanders on the social housing register has risen from 41,484 in June 2023, to 43,074 in September 2023.
• The number of applications has gone down by two over the same time period, from 25,364 to 25,362.
• The number of applications containing households with children rose from 5,988 in June 2023, to 6,733 in September 2023.
• The number of applications containing a person with an identified disability has slightly risen from 11,760 to 11,800.

Ms McVeigh also welcomed the Queensland Government’s purchase of a former 84-room hotel in Brisbane, which had been used for emergency temporary accommodation.

“This will provide Brisbane residents experiencing or facing homelessness, and St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland, which has been managing the property, with greater security of tenure into the future.”