Q Shelter

Help for Individuals and Organisations Following Cyclone Alfred Here's a great resource from Basic Rights Queensland for anyone wanting to know how to access recovery assistance payments or support following Cyclone Alfred. https://bit.ly/43WDYWm It includes factsheets and information on the Disaster Recovery Allowance, which may give those affected up to 13 weeks payment from the date they have a loss of income as a direct result of a disaster. There are plenty of other resources and links for disaster support for organisations, including: 🔹 Volunteering Queensland for organisations who need volunteers to assist: https://bit.ly/41Sk2BJ 🔹Queensland Government support for not-for-profit organisations https://bit.ly/4iVG2SL Please share any links and resources you've found helpful below. #BetterTogether #HomeMatters #CycloneAlfred

We know local councils are not equipped to solve these challenges alone. To really move the dial, a joined-up response across all levels of government, the private sector, and the community is required. However, local laws, homelessness action plans, and other interventions vary significantly from one council to another. This is why a truly regional response is needed. Check out our piece below from Acting CEO Stuart Jobling, calling on the State Government to convene all SEQ Councils alongside relevant state agencies—such as housing, health, justice, and communities—and stakeholders from the broader housing and homelessness system to address these shared challenges collaboratively on a regional scale. Pleasing, by the end of the week there has been some movement on what such a mechanism might look like. Queensland Government Department of Housing and Public Works Sam O'Connor MP Council of Mayors (SEQ) Local Government Association of Queensland #EndingHomelessness #SEQ #BetterTogether

📖Friday on The Deck👓 New on The Deck this week: We're pleased to announce that reporting from the first three workshops of the Brisbane Synthesis Series has been completed and published. You can download the reports at https://lnkd.in/gmanp_Fk As part of the Service Integration Initiative, the Synthesis Series events brings together sector experts and frontline homelessness and housing services practitioners to explore challenges and co-develop practical solutions on a range of key topics influencing unmet housing need and homelessness. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this significant body of work. The results inform best practice and continuous improvement in the sector, as well as developing policy recommendations made to the government towards achieving a healthy housing system for all Queenslanders. #TheDeck #SynthesisSeries #ServiceIntegration #homematters #bettertogether #housing #homelessness

Q Shelter joins our sector colleagues in calling for an urgent, coordinated and consistent regional response to the homelessness crisis in South East Queensland. In a letter to the Premier as part of the Brisbane Zero collective, we have reiterated our calls for collaboration between the Queensland Government, South East Queensland local councils, sector organisations and service delivery agencies. We must work together as a community to develop sustainable and consistent long-term solutions that support vulnerable people, particularly those who are sleeping rough because they have no safe or appropriate housing options. Enforcing punitive measures on people in these situations only forces them to relocate, shifting the issue rather than resolving it. Homelessness is incredibly complex, which is why we need all voices at the table and buy-in from all levels of government to develop coordinated, sustainable solutions. Now is the time to come together as a region to work together to end homelessness. Read more in our latest media release on our website: https://bit.ly/41RBW7g Today's Courier Mail features an opinion piece by Karyn Walsh, CEO of Micah Projects: https://bit.ly/4kSdXh1 (subscriber access). #AdvanceToZero #HomeMatters #BetterTogether #homelessness #housing

Ahead of the much-anticipated federal election announcement, National Shelter have released their 2025 Policy Platform Priorities with a call to the Australian Government to fix the housing crisis, to provide a fair, sustainable and healthy housing system for all Australians. Read National Shelter's Policy Platform here: https://bit.ly/4iHxwa0 As a proud member of the Shelter Network, Q Shelter has contributed to this collective policy design. Q Shelter members and stakeholders will see strong links between National Shelter's five policy priorities, and our own policy platform. 'Housing and homelessness issues can only be addressed by coordinated and formalised action from all levels of government.' Key Priority 1️⃣ calls on the federal government to deliver a legislated National Housing and Homelessness Plan that sets out dedicated funding, standards, and reporting. This echoes Q Shelter's long-standing call for every level of government to come together to deliver consistent and coordinated approaches to housing and homelessness that meet the real needs in each region. We also strongly support the call under Key Priority 4️⃣ to implement tax reform that moves away from contributing to 'housing as an investment' rather than 'housing as a home', particularly in an environment where people have insecure housing and homelessness is on the rise. Download the National Shelter policy platform to help inform your own discussions with candidates in the upcoming election. #homematters #bettertogether #federalelection #housing #homelessness

🔹 Youth Homelessness Matters Day | Breakfast Forum (QLD) 🔹 ⏳ Only 20 seats left! Registrations close 19 March - don’t miss out. Join us for an exclusive breakfast forum where an expert panel will explore collaborative solutions to end youth homelessness. Hear from our speakers Leah Lang, Queensland Government Architect; Pam Barker GAICD, Brisbane Youth Service; Tom Allsop, PeakCare Queensland; and moderated by Jackson Hills, Q Shelter. An incredible morning to advocate, connect, and take action. 📅 27 March 2025 ⏰ 7:30am arrival | 8:00am start – 9:00am 📍 KPMG Heritage Lanes, Level 11, 80 Ann Street, Brisbane 👉 Register now: https://lnkd.in/ef6AyVC6 Thank you to our partners Q Shelter and KPMG Australia. Antoinette Rusby-Perera Rebecca Field

Media coverage this week has highlighted the surge in young people seeking help from homelessness services in the Mackay region. Read the story here from the Mackay Daily Mercury, featuring Q Shelter members Kalyan Youth Service Inc and Community Accommodation & Support Agency Inc 🔗 https://bit.ly/3QZLwA6 (subscriber access only) It's just one example of a concerning trend being felt across Queensland and the country, with people under 25 experiencing significant disadvantages and challenges in accessing safe, affordable and appropriate housing. Q Shelter is proud to be part of the HomeTime campaign - a national coalition of community services, peak bodies, researchers, unions and community members - all calling for action and policy reforms to unlock the housing system for young people. #HomeTime recently launched its federal election platform, focusing on three key measures to significantly reduce child and youth homelessness: 1. Develop and maintain a national pool of 15,000 dedicated youth tenancies. 2. Provide linked support services to enable young people to pursue their goals and transition to independence. 3. Remove the Youth Housing Penalty that locks young people out of social housing tenancies. With around 40,000 Australians aged 15-24 without a place to live, it's time for dedicated investment and reform to fix housing for young people. Find out more and get involved in the Home Time campaign here: www.hometime.org.au #FixHousingForYoungPeople #HomeTime #2025Election #HomeMatters #BetterTogether #housing #homelessness

With a Bachelor’s in Psychological Science and a passion for helping people, Mason found his way into the housing and homelessness sector as a Data Officer. Watch now to hear Mason’s story and what inspired his journey!

The latest Rental Affordability Report has highlighted the continued financial pressure being felt by Queensland renters, with rental affordability now at its lowest rate on record. The report, released in the last week by REA Group and Proptrack, says the continued and significant increase in rents over the past four years versus stagnant increases in wages, has pushed affordability to its lowest point since reporting began in 2008. "During July-December 2024, a household in Queensland earning the median household income of $113,000 per year could afford to rent just 28% of properties advertised across the state. This is a further decline from the already record-low seen in 2023-24 of 35%. "In the four years since December 2020, median advertised rents in Brisbane have surged 50% and in regional Queensland 54%. This growth has far outstripped growth in incomes and pushed affordability to its lowest level on record," the report states. Read the report, which includes statistics for all Australian states and territories, in full on the REA website: https://bit.ly/41TTXmF These figures bolster Q Shelter's resolve in advocating for fairer conditions for Queensland's renters to ensure everyone in our state has a safe, stable and affordable home. Our recent submission to the Queensland Government State Budget includes specific measures to protect renters, including ensuring the successful implementation of stage two rental reforms and limiting rent increases to inflation in any one year. Our position echoes the federal election policy platform recently released by National Shelter, calling for national minimum standards to deliver a better deal for renters: https://bit.ly/41TTYHf Read the Q Sheter submission to the State Budget here: https://bit.ly/4bDRL64 #RentalAffordability #HomeMatters #BetterTogether #renting #housing

Q Shelter would like to express our gratitude and appreciation to our colleagues across the sector for their efforts over the past few days to ensure Queensland's most vulnerable residents were not forgotten during this weather emergency. It has been inspiring to see the sector respond quickly and work together in challenging circumstances to support those in need, including sharing resources and information to coordinate assistance. We know some services remained open, while others needed to make difficult decisions to close for the welfare of their staff. In either case, it was a demonstration of emergency plans enacted, and human safety and dignity prioritised. Thank you all. With the emergency situation still current in many areas, the full impact of this event will not be known for some time. We do know that the housing and homelessness sector will continue to get on with the job it does so well, leading the discussion, advocacy and hands-on response for people facing housing need and homelessness, and Q Shelter stands ready to support and advocate for our sector as we always have. It is business as usual for Q Shelter, with some of our staff working remotely this week. We will keep you updated should there be any changes to our scheduled upcoming events. Please continue to follow the advice of authorities, some key links are below: ▪️Disaster Management Queensland – includes links to local emergency dashboards: https://bit.ly/4bEBJsJ ▪️Assistance with temporary housing: https://bit.ly/43wRKyM ▪️For tenants of public housing needing to arrange non-emergency maintenance: https://bit.ly/4bEBKgh #HomeMatters #BetterTogether #CycloneAlfred #housing #homelessness