THE discovery of drug labs in Gold Coast and Toowoomba rental housing as well as the need to teach housekeeping skills to the homeless are among challenges faced by the St Vincent de Paul Society as it seeks to deal with Queensland’s accommodation crisis.
State St Vincent de Paul Society executives – chief executive officer Peter Maher, housing manager Wal Ogle and human services manager David Worsnop – spoke of these and other challenges faced in their roles on a daily basis.
They said Queensland had the second highest number of homeless people in Australia – almost 25,000.
The Vinnies leaders’ comments came as the society’s national council joined a new campaign to seek justice for those struggling with high housing costs in Australia.
The campaign, Australians for Affordable Housing, was launched by 60 national housing, welfare and community sector organisations in Canberra.
Queensland’s Vinnies leaders outlined other challenges including the society’s need to support increasing numbers of people with mental illness forced into community housing, and the lack of affordable accommodation in booming mining areas in regions such as the Surat Basin.
They welcomed Australians for Affordable Housing, saying it would raise the matter in public consciousness and enable more collaboration between the various public and private organisations dealing with the issue.
They described Australia’s housing system as “broken” and criticised all levels of government for being too slow to respond to the crisis.
Statistics indicate that, on any given night, there are about 105,000 Australians homeless.
From 2009 to 2010, the amount Australian households spent on housing increased by 55 per cent, more than any other household expenditure.
St Vincent de Paul Society spokesmen said in Queensland requests for housing were coming “not just from Brisbane but in regions including Rockhampton, Gladstone, Mackay, Roma, Chinchilla and Miles”.
The society is dealing with the crisis by increasing housing stock.
Mr Worsnop, who has recently returned from a trip to Roma, meeting with gas company executives and other organisations to seek donations of land for further dwellings, said since 2005 Queensland’s St Vincent de Paul Society had gone from providing 42 dwellings to 350 this year.
This was expected to rise to 450 by June next year.
Mr Maher said “no one in 21st Century Australia should be without a place to live”.
Modern social conditions are making an effective response more difficult, however.
“For example, the society often has to clean up the mess if tenants have knocked properties around,” Mr Maher said.
“In two recent cases on the Gold Coast and Toowoomba, tenants were discovered to have been running drug labs.
“The clean-up bill in one case was about $20,000.
“All traces of chemicals used in the lab had to be removed before the next tenants, in this case a family with young children, could be moved in.”
Mr Maher said people could not be “simply taken off the street and put into accommodation without support”.
“They need to learn mechanisms – for example, feeding themselves, looking after the house and making sure rent is paid regularly.”
Mr Ogle said the housing situation in Queensland was becoming “intolerably worse”.
“There are all sorts of issues emerging as Vinnies tries to deal with the problem,” he said.
“We’re even coming across building defects in new homes which obviously delay people being able to move in.”
Government policy to provide accommodation on a needs basis is also contributing to significant problems.
“We’re finding more and more people with mental health issues are being referred to the society’s accommodation,” Mr Ogle said.
“This would be fair enough if Government gave us sufficient funding to support these people, but it’s not.
“The end result of this policy is to create mental health wards in the suburbs.
“And mental health problems cause immense tenancy problems and enormous problems for the community.
“The fact is the Government is too slow to recognise where problems are in the system.”
Mr Worsnop said the homeless “were not solely Vinnies’ problem, nor the Govern-ment’s”.
“They’re also the business community’s responsibility – in fact they’re everyone’s responsibility.
“The best way we can help the marginalised is to bring the entire community’s resources together.
“That’s why the Australians for Affordable Housing campaign is so important.”
Mr Worsnop said his recent trip to Roma highlighted the need for community involvement beyond welfare organisations and government bodies.
“I met with gas company executives, with developers and with members of the local council to look at the possibility of a gift of a block of dirt for Vinnies to build more accommodation,” he said.
“Certainly none of us want to stand in the way of progress.
“In tough economic times the jobs this industry is generating are obviously important.
“But the development also means the marginalised are being pushed further out of affordable housing.
“Businesses such as the gas industry definitely have a social responsibility to give something back in this case.”
