Women copping the brunt of regional housing crisis

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By CAITLIN CROWLEY

WOMEN are being disproportionately impacted by a “tsunami” of factors which are resulting in a new demographic of “working poor” in regional Queensland, amid the state’s worsening housing crisis and rising cost of living.

Toowoomba women’s support centre Protea Place has seen demand for help skyrocket, pointing to more than a decade of under-investment in social and affordable housing and the scourge of domestic and family violence as some of the issues compounding the struggles facing women searching for secure accommodation.

“The housing crisis has joined up with a whole heap of other elements within the economy that really create what is often called a tsunami or the perfect storm around homelessness,” CEO Amanda Dalton said.

“We’re seeing a lot of people that have never, ever had to reach out for help, ever – so it’s impacting a lot wider.”

Single women over 55 have been identified as Australia’s fastest growing homeless cohort, with 500 Darling Downs and South West women estimated to be experiencing homelessness right now.

“We’ve also got cohorts of women that have escaped violence – we know that domestic and family violence is the highest cause of homelessness for women and children,” Dalton said.

“Add to that, a housing crisis where there are no properties, which drives up the prices – what is there, simply isn’t affordable.

“The rising cost of living is really adding to an already disastrous situation for many women.”

Dalton (pictured above) told the Caller, rental prices in Toowoomba had become “out of reach” for a lot of people, even those who are working.

“We speak to a lot of women who are sleeping in their cars but they have jobs to go to,” she said.

“We have the thing coming back of the ‘working poor’ – they’re not able to make ends meet, they’re not able to secure accommodation and pay rent, keep vehicles on the road, pay for food or medication.”

Dalton said it was difficult to get accurate data on how many women were actually homeless, as they tended to couch surf or sleep in their car.

“Women don’t generally sleep in the park or just on the street, they’re hidden away,” she said.

Protea Place has just launched a new fundraising campaign called 4 Pink Wheels, where teams and individuals are being encouraged to sleep out in their vehicle at Grand Central next month, to experience for a night what is a daily reality for those who don’t have a safe place to call home.

The organisation wants to raise $100,000 to keep its doors open, having seen donations and sponsorships fall away as cost of living pressures bite.

Further west and Goondiwindi Regional Council (GRC) adopted a Local Housing Action Plan this week, which made 17 recommendations to the Queensland Government including moving government employees out of the existing rental pool and into new government housing and re-introducing rent-to-own strategies for low-income and vulnerable people.

“The Queensland Government need to house their own employees and replace housing stock that has been sold off in recent years,” the Action Plan stated.

The plan also identified that the cost of private rentals in Goondiwindi had impacted the recruitment and retention of police officers, and that there had been no rooms available for prac teachers to rent.

“We continue to experience an extremely tight rental market in the region and Council wants to be proactive in doing all it can to encourage private sector development to relieve rental pressure,” Mayor Lawrence Springborg said.

GRC also extended its rebate for all Council costs associated with new multi-dwellings built before 2025, and building approvals in place by end of 2023.

“Over the past 12 months, the multi-dwelling incentive has generated interest from a range of investors, and we have extended the timelines to maximise the potential rental property growth in the region,” Springborg said.

“Increasing rental property vacancies in the region is critical for locals and businesses to attract and keep essential workers to the region.”

GRC committed to another nine housing initiatives as part of its Action Plan, including assessing the housing needs of its staff and whether more properties need to be built or if under-utilised stock could be released back onto the market.

The Queensland Government is currently spending a record $5 billion on social and affordable housing and housing and homelessness support, which it says is the “largest concentrated investment in the state’s history and will help to deliver 13,500 homes”.

$322 million was committed in last year’s state budget to build 500 more social homes by June 30 2025 and $64.3 million was allocated for the purchase and lease of emergency accommodation facilities.

A vacant Inglewood aged care facility is among the latest properties to be identified for redevelopment, with the Miles Government announcing this week it will partner with GRC to deliver five affordable homes for seniors who need housing support.

“The government firmly believes that every Queenslander deserves a roof over their head, which is why we are investing in projects throughout the state,” Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon said.

Amanda Dalton said current efforts to purchase properties for affordable housing were needed on a much “faster and bigger scale”.

“We need to free up more properties straight away – they need to purchase more immediate properties because without homes, we are going to struggle. All the refuges are backlogged,” she said.

“They also need to be investing in support services that are carrying the load at the front – services like Protea Place.”

Homelessness Australia estimates an additional $450 million in homelessness support is needed to respond to new people needing assistance and people currently being turned away.