Queensland Housing Minister, Meaghan Scanlon, has announced a critical response housing team will be established in Toowoomba to rapidly respond and help people experiencing homelessness.
It’s part of the State Government’s new long-term housing plan – Homes for Queenslanders, which includes a 20% uplift in funding for homelessness services.
The Minister said the new team will regularly visit known areas where people are experiencing homelessness in Toowoomba and offer rapid support to help them find accommodation.
“Every Queenslander deserves a safe place to live,” she said.
“For those who have fallen through the cracks – we’re giving our hardworking homeless organisations more funding, but also rolling out rapid response teams to help people with accommodation, and eventually a permanent place to call home.”
The new team has been modelled off the work of the Brisbane Critical Response Team, which has helped more than 430 people find alternative accommodation like social housing, private rentals and boarding houses in the year since its establishment.
Brisbane’s Critical Response Team worked with key stakeholders, including Brisbane City Council, Queensland Police Service, Homeless Health Outreach Team, Micah Projects and the Brisbane Youth Service, the Minister said.
“While we deliver our social housing Big Build and build more homes faster, we also need to support services on the ground and that’s what this funding will do.”
“I’ve seen firsthand how this team has made a difference for people sleeping rough in the Brisbane CBD and I know that expanding these teams to regional areas of Queensland will have a big impact.
“As well as establishing Critical Response Teams across the state, hundreds more emergency accommodation places will be made available and we’ll employ more frontline staff in our Housing Service Centres to support Queenslanders who need housing assistance,” she said.
The Toowoomba team will include dedicated Housing and Homelessness Services staff and work in conjunction with St Vincent De Paul and other government and non-government organisations to engage with people who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness about their housing needs and identify alternative accommodation.
