Support Rough Sleepers

On Thursday 13 March, Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and LNP Council announced they will criminalise homelessness in Brisbane. This is a cruel and ineffective move that won’t solve the housing and homelessness crisis.

With over 47,000 people on Queensland’s public housing waitlist and nearly 25,000 turned away from homelessness services last year, people are forced to sleep rough due to chronic underfunding and lack of housing options.

No one chooses to sleep rough when there are better options. Hostels are unsafe for those fleeing domestic violence, and people with complex mental health needs can’t be helped by being dumped into hotels with no support.

It’s false to say every rough sleeper has been offered accommodation. Many have been denied help because of a lack of funding. The two primary causes of homelessness are rent increases and domestic violence. So why criminalise people facing these challenges instead of offering long-term housing and support?

The Lord Mayor’s decision to criminalise homelessness just days after vulnerable communities faced severe weather is a display of cruelty and will help no one who is escaping violence, recovering from substance abuse or has fallen through the gaps.

If the Lord Mayor was actually compassionate, he would increase BCC funding for essential services like Homelessness Connect, Public Space Liaison Officers, Community development teams and deliver a major investment in the Brisbane Housing Company.

I need your help to put pressure on the LNP Council and State Government to reverse their decision.

On Thursday 13 March, Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and LNP Council announced they will criminalise homelessness in Brisbane. This is a cruel and ineffective move that won’t solve the housing and homelessness crisis.

With over 47,000 people on Queensland’s public housing waitlist and nearly 25,000 turned away from homelessness services last year, people are forced to sleep rough due to chronic underfunding and lack of housing options.

No one chooses to sleep rough when there are better options. Hostels are unsafe for those fleeing domestic violence, and people with complex mental health needs can’t be helped by being dumped into hotels with no support.

It’s false to say every rough sleeper has been offered accommodation. Many have been denied help because of a lack of funding. The two primary causes of homelessness are rent increases and domestic violence. So why criminalise people facing these challenges instead of offering long-term housing and support?

The Lord Mayor’s decision to criminalise homelessness just days after vulnerable communities faced severe weather is a display of cruelty and will help no one who is escaping violence, recovering from substance abuse or has fallen through the gaps.

If the Lord Mayor was actually compassionate, he would increase BCC funding for essential services like Homelessness Connect, Public Space Liaison Officers, Community development teams and deliver a major investment in the Brisbane Housing Company.

I need your help to put pressure on the LNP Council and State Government to reverse their decision.

Support Rough Sleepers

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Dear Lord Mayor Schinner, Councillor Hutton, Premier Crisafulli, Minister O’Connor, Minister O'Neil

I write to express my opposition to people sleeping rough in Brisbane parks being given 24 hours to vacate - with police asked to forcibly evict anyone who does not comply. To announce this just after people across the city have come together to support each other through the threat of a cyclone is just cruel.

In a society as rich as ours, no one should be left houseless and forced to sleep rough in a park. The fact so many people have fallen through the cracks and been left with no choice but to sleep rough is an indictment on all levels of government.

Not only is this proposal cruel, it doesn’t do anything to actually address the underlying problem - the housing crisis which has left so many people houseless in the first place. Where do you expect people to go? Without any secure housing, people will have to find somewhere to sleep. People are still going to have to sleep rough, they will just be scattered across the city and possibly lose contact with their support workers.

There are already some 47,000 people on Queensland’s public housing waitlist. Last year almost 25,000 individuals in Queensland seeking secure housing were turned away from homelessness services because there was no help available. Funding cuts to frontline services have meant that many have had to reduce their hours or turn people away because they don’t have enough resources.

The huge number of people on the public housing wait list and chronic underfunding of homelessness services raises serious questions about the claim that everyone sleeping rough had been offered accommodation. There is simply not enough secure housing to house everyone who needs it - otherwise we would not have so many people on the public housing list.

I also want to be clear that temporary housing is not a solution to homelessness. Without support services, temporary housing becomes a very difficult place for anyone trying to become sober or with a history of abuse. There is a lot of violence in temporary housing and easy access to substances, which is why many unhoused residents feel safer sleeping rough in a park.

The only long term solution to the current crisis is to ensure everyone in our community is permanently housed and provided with appropriate support services. Finland adopted a “housing first” model which reduced homelessness by 70% and basically eliminated rough sleeping.

The basic premise is simple: give people permanent housing with no conditions and flexible on-site support services. While perhaps a little counterintuitive, Finland found that increasing temporary housing actually makes homelessness worse. As the architect of Finland’s approach made clear: “To end homelessness permanently, you must reduce the temporary accommodation.”

I would like to see your government’s commit to the following:
1) Immediately cancel your plans to forcibly move on people who are sleeping rough in parks.
2) Work with all levels of government to significantly increase investments in public housing and properly fund homelessness services.
3) Commit to ending homelessness by following the lead of Finland and their proven “housing first” model.

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