'Life changing' initiative to close homelessness gap in Queensland

Ethan Shrubb slept rough for 18 months, battling addiction, and struggling for self-worth.

Now, Lego sets adorn his inner-Brisbane apartment, his home for the past two months, where he juggles IT studies and a warehousing job.

"It's priceless, it's just surreal, because when you're out on the streets for that long, it doesn't feel like something that you'll reobtain," he said.

"Not only has it been somewhere safe to sleep that I can actually rest and not stress, but I can build the foundations of everything that I've been trying to work towards for a long time."

Ethan's home was secured with the support of local community organisations and crisis support services.

His pathway is something the state government is looking to replicate for hundreds of Queenslanders, to try and close a critical gap in the state's homelessness response.

'Life-changing' housing

Supported Accommodation will provide transitional housing in 37 projects statewide and is expected to deliver more than 600 places for Queenslanders sleeping rough.

The homes will provide 24/7 on-site specialist support, helping tenants to find pathways to more permanent homes in the private market or in social and affordable housing.

Housing minister Sam O'Connor said all projects would be identified by the end of the term.

However, he could not say how many would be housing people by then, or the cost of the initiative.

"It's part of our record capital program to get the new ones built, but it's also the way that we're reinvesting funding," he said.

"We're going to have all of them identified by the end of this term, and we're going to have work underway on a fairly big chunk of them as well, because there is no time to waste.

"This will be for young Queenslanders, it'll be for families, it'll be for individuals, and it will be absolutely life changing."

'Practical support vital'

Ethan was further supported by non-profit Givit, which donated many essentials to him, including a bed, a laptop, and a chest of drawers.

"What Ethan's story also shows is that it's not enough to just put a roof over someone's head," Mr O'Connor said.

"You've got to have a better model of doing things."

Queensland Council of Social Service chief executive, Aimee McVeigh, said the wrap-around support was vital to break the homelessness cycle.

"There is a gap for crisis and transitional accommodation, and we urgently need more resources to fill that gap," she said.

"We would like to see more models of supportive housing that are permanent, because supportive housing should include options where people can permanently live in accommodation and permanently access support.

"There's really good evidence that says that there are people in our community who are going to need support to maintain their tenancy."

Commitment to targets in face of crisis

Ms McVeigh said continued investment in the sector was crucial, as the housing crisis continued "unabated".

"We know there are still too many people waiting on the social housing register.

"Rents in Queensland have continued to increase, and we have a really tight rental market, which means that it is almost impossible to find an affordable rental property."

The state government has committed to deliver one million new homes by 2044, 53,500 of which will be social and community homes.

Mr O'Connor said the LNP remained focused on that goal and was asked if he believed the housing crisis was better or worse, just past the halfway mark of the party's first term.

"The number one thing that we can focus on is getting more housing, more supply of all types out of the ground," he said.

"Our record speaks for itself in that regard. We've had four record quarters of housing construction growth."