Housing and homelessness solutions for Queensland
The following framework of solutions is proposed building on:
- Q Shelter’s 2022-23 submission, Go for Gold Report and submission to the Queensland Housing Summit.
- Progress as a result of the Queensland Housing Summit.
Prevention and support to address homelessness
Progress
- Funding for tenancy sustainment program.
- Two waves of funding enhancements for specialist homelessness services to address increased demand including from families.
- Various Queensland Housing and Homelessness Action Plan 2021-2025.
Next steps
- Fund a recurrent $20 million support program across Queensland that guarantees assistance to end homelessness and sustain tenancies working across all well-being domains as required and for the duration of need.
- Sustainably enhance SHS funding to address unmet demand and assess need in locations where the SHS system is not funded or has limited funding.
- Implement a supportive housing program of funding in Queensland enabling supportive housing programs in each major population centre.
- Co-design service delivery models for SHS and tenancy sustainment programs that are contemporary and evidence-based as the basis for negotiating the next National Housing and Homelessness Agreement and SHS contracts beyond 2023.
- Undertake system design by region to identify the critical components of a healthy housing and homelessness system and ensure those components are configured effectively. For each region, this should include intake and assessment, immediate response, mobile assertive outreach, after-hours outreach, and ongoing support to sustain tenancies. Housing supply and affordability responses should be identified across social, affordable, subsidised private rental and the broader rental market.
- Support and facilitate strategic leadership groups in each region to advance responses to local needs and the realisation of local opportunities to address housing need and homelessness.
- Launch a whole of government approach to system reform and investment to intensively support children and their families during pregnancy and through childhood to prevent exposure to adverse childhood experiences. This type of program would guarantee housing stability, and focus on attachment, mental health, cognitive development, community participation, education retention and employment.
- Accelerate whole-of-government coordination to prevent exits to homelessness from prison, hospital and from child protection services.
- Enable specific program responses to hoarding and squalor including specialist support programs with funded brokerage to support tenancy sustainment.
Housing supply
Progress
- Housing Investment Fund increased from $1 Billion to $2 Billion
- Increased funding for head leases.
- Commitment to the renewal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Action Plan for Queensland from 2023 forward
- Continued implementation of Quick Starts in partnership with CHPs
- Portal/concierge for engagement about housing supply opportunities
- Reforms to the Community Housing Operating Model have commenced.
Next steps
- Establish a coordination and delivery agency in Queensland similar to Homes Victoria.
- Work with housing peak and industry bodies to develop an Industry Road Map for community housing providers Q Shelter proposes the development of an Industry Road Map for Community Housing articulating a strategic vision, objectives, outcomes, impact, and measures. The Road Map will provide a clear pathway to building the capacity of more organisations to deliver growth plans. This will include Indigenous Community Housing Organisations and identify measures that increase housing supply that is owned and managed by ICHOs for the purpose of housing First Nations’ Queenslanders.
- Accelerate the finalisation of the community housing operating model and policy framework to:
- Finalise rent setting reforms to be consistent with public housing rents.
- Provide certainty about insurance offering from the State.
- Confirm the growth plan template.
- Finalise the master agreement.
- Finalise the tripartite agreement to facilitate new funding sources.
- Grant long-term leases or title transfers in addition to stock management rights over more social housing to improve financial viability and the capacity to attract debt finance to achieve growth in supply (attachment 5 of this full report includes some data demonstrating the uplift from modest title transfers, some capital funding, a mix of social and affordable housing as well as accessing Commonwealth Rent Assistance).
- Provide transparent data on demand with greater detail on demographic profile of households and the locations where housing is required.
- Increase Housing Investment Fund to $3 Billion from July 2024 and include as mandatory the involvement of community housing providers in the development and provision of both social and affordable housing.
- Establish an agreed definition of affordable housing to ensure investment in affordable housing results in housing affordability and supply for people on low and middle incomes (lowest 40 per cent of income spectrum) where they are not paying more than 30 per cent of their income in rent.
- Allow QuickStart’s funding to include a mix of social and affordable housing.
- Accelerate social housing supply through targeted renewal of 15% of the State Housing Portfolio (10,500 dwellings).
- Develop a pathway and proposal for Queensland’s take-up of the Housing Affordability Fund and other funded initiatives through the Federal Government and set targets
- Strengthen and accelerate processes for appraising property that could contribute to supply immediately or soon.
- Develop an innovation fund to support the emergence of new technologies to achieve faster construction and innovative, affordable design to assist with addressing immediate housing need.
- Fund a $300million program upgrade and increase the supply of homes available to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and households through ICHOs.
- Enhance targeted capacity-building funding for ICHOs through ATSIHQ to undertake in-depth organisational development activities leading to housing growth.
- Additionally set growth targets for specific population groups such as people with disability, families, older people, women and young people.
Planning system reform
Progress
- Planning system reforms under investigation
- Amended planning regulation enabling community housing providers to use Ministerial Infrastructure Designation pathway for social and affordable housing growth projects
- Consistent provisions for secondary dwellings
- Land audit by State Government
- Local Governments progressing housing action plans.
- Expansion of priority development areas and the inclusion of social and affordable housing in priority development areas.
Next steps
- Accelerate planning system reforms such as inclusionary zoning.
- Provide capacity support to local governments to accelerate housing action plans with targets for all residential development including social and affordable housing.
- Define affordable housing to inform planning for Priority Development Areas ensuring a definition that delivers housing supply to people on the lowest 40 per cent of the income spectrum where they don’t pay more than 30 per cent of their incomes in rent.
- Through the Housing Round Table, set targets for all residential growth by LGA inclusive of targets for social and affordable housing based on current and projected need.
- Facilitate place-based leadership groups to drive solutions and realise opportunities to address local needs and achieve growth in supply.
Support community housing and housing diversity
Progress
- Community housing capacity building funding from Queensland Treasury to support growth.
- Infrastructure charge reductions in some locations.
- Continued implementation of Queensland Housing Investment Growth Initiative.
- Community campaign to support housing diversity commenced.
Next steps
- Develop a Community Housing Industry Road Map setting a vision, objectives, outcomes, strategies, impacts and measures. Use the Road Map to design optimal structure and size of the industry enabling more organisations to have the scale for significant growth projects.
- Moving beyond community level information campaigns, fund community development projects to strengthen community support for social and affordable housing as well as housing diversity more generally
- Fund training and support for CHPs to have targeted community engagement plans that build community support for growth projects.
Rental reforms
Progress
- First stage of rental reforms implemented including measures to support families impacted by domestic and family violence.
- Investigation of impacts and scale of short-term letting for the wider housing market is underway.
- Some build-to-rent initiatives have emerged.
Next steps
- Urgently progress stage-two of rental reforms inclusive of improved security of tenure, removal of without grounds evictions and regulation of rental increases (matched to inflation and limited to one increase each year)
- Implement measures to limit the impact of short-term letting on the broader housing market and incentivise the return of short-term rentals to the long-term market.
- Rapidly expand Build-to-Rent initiatives with community housing providers leading to implement mixed tenure and mixed-use sites with long-term, sustainable social and affordable housing outcomes.
Tenant participation and peer leadership
Progress
- Housing Older Women initiatives have included the voices of people with lived experience of housing need and homelessness.
- Queensland Housing Summit included people with lived experience of housing need and homelessness.
Next steps
Develop a tenant participation framework for Queensland that includes:
- A policy framework that embeds the role of people with lived experience of housing need and homelessness within system improvements.
- Independent avenues of redress including a tenant ombudsman.
- Independent tenant surveys in social, community, and affordable housing.
- Data collection about tenant experiences to drive continuous system and service delivery improvements.
- Funded programs to support tenant participation across social and affordable housing.
- Expanded place-based peer leadership programs including peer training opportunities.
- Pathways to employment in the housing and homelessness system for people with lived experience of housing need and homelessness.
Brisbane 2032
Progress
- Commencement of legacy planning for Brisbane 2032 and appointment of legacy committee.
Next steps
- Ensure as specialist panel of housing and homelessness experts is advising legacy planning.
- Conduct a full social impact assessment of Brisbane 2032.
- Set targets for the prevention of displacement of people living in impacted communities and who are renting.
- Set targets for social and affordable housing as a legacy.
- Establish a Queensland Housing Trust to capture philanthropy and corporate contributions because of ESG requirements and social procurement.
- Embed social procurement targets as a legacy.
- Address workforce housing needs as part of procurement where proponents need to plan for and address the housing needs of their workforce.
- Develop and implement a methodology to monitor displacement in key areas impacted by infrastructure projects.
- Ensure Athlete’s villages achieve optimal legacy for social and affordable housing supply.
- Otherwise implement the Go for Gold report measures across housing and homelessness.
Young people
Progress
- Youth Homelessness Action Plan launched with enhanced funding from 2022.
- Age for exiting care raised from 18 to 21.
Next steps
- Accelerate protocols to prevent young people exiting care into homelessness or the risk of homelessness.
- Expand funding for specialised housing and support models to more locations.
- Include targeted tenancy sustainment funding for young people.
Women
Progress
- Establishment of Older Women’s support hub.
- Ongoing advisory group inclusive of older women.
- Eligibility of older women for social housing improved.
Next steps
- Targeted prevention campaign and support to help younger women with housing literacy and through shared equity programs.
- Promote social and affordable housing options to older people through targeted support and education programs.
- Introduce innovation funding to support co-housing and other sharing models.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander housing
Progress
- Funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Queensland.
- Extension of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Plan announced (forward from 2023).
Next steps
- Enhance funding for shared-equity models to provide home-ownership opportunities.
- Establish $300 million in grant funding to support Indigenous Community Housing Providers to upgrade existing homes and grow supply.
- Increase specialist capacity-building support funding for Indigenous Community Housing Providers through Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing.
- Set targets (at least 30%) for the participation of Indigenous Community Housing Providers through opportunities embedded in the Queensland Housing and Investment Growth Initiative.
Workforce and sector viability
Progress
- Increased indexation for State-funded community services to match inflation and the cost of wages.
- Capacity building program for community housing providers funded by Queensland Treasury.
Next steps
- Negotiate with the National Government that extended funding for homelessness services includes funding enhancements to cover the Equal Remuneration Order
- Commence co-design of the future of specialist homelessness services immediately to support negotiation of the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement
- Provide SHS-funded organisations with certainty about funding to support sustained service delivery, staff retention and wellbeing
- Ensure the same indexation is applied to SHS funding as other community services to ensure sustained levels of service delivery
- Fund a Centre of Excellence for the housing and homelessness system to support practice, leadership, and evidence-based service delivery.
