Almost 6000 social and affordable homes are being built or under contract. Image: Queensland Department of Housing and Public Works.
New Queensland Government measures are providing social and community homes for First Nations peoples in remote communities.
Efforts to solve the state’s housing issues range from construction red-tape reform to a record $5.6 billion investment over the next four years to lay the foundations for 53,500 social and community homes by 2044.
Within that funding commitment, $242.2 million is dedicated to building new social housing, upgrading existing social housing and developing residential lots for new housing in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander local government areas (LGAs).
By the end of the month, seven modular homes, with either three or four bedrooms, will be installed at Yarrabah.
“Projects like this one at Yarrabah are vital to meeting the need for social housing for people in First Nations communities who are waiting for a place to call home,” Housing and Public Works Minister Sam O’Connor said.
“We’re committed to building new homes and upgrading existing housing in First Nations remote and discrete communities and promoting pathways to improve housing equity and support home ownership.”
In Napranum, a 34-lot residential land subdivision will aid in the delivery of 38 new social homes and the first stages of a 22-lot residential land subdivision in Woorabinda.
The Queensland Government is also touting its accomplishments in expanding home ownership through initiatives such as the Palm Island Home Ownership Scheme, a rent-to-buy model for the state’s Indigenous communities.
This housing push follows what the government has characterised as a decade of underinvestment under Labor, claiming that the former administration added only 509 social homes a year.
Queensland’s housing system is ramping up, with 2000 social and community homes to be delivered each year by the end of the term.
Currently, almost 6000 social and affordable homes are being built or under contract, double the number locked in in Labor’s budget.
“The Crisafulli Government is committed to Closing the Gap by delivering projects which provide measurable improvements in housing, as well as health and education,” Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Fiona Simpson said.
“It is great to see these modular homes built locally in Cairns and used to give residents of Yarrabah the dignity of a roof over their heads.”
