The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households on the waitlist for public housing in Queensland has more than doubled in the last four years.
As of June there were 27,933 applications for public housing in the state, of which more than 9000 were Indigenous households.
It’s a big jump from 3545 households in 2017.
The waitlist has expanded by more than 7000 applications in the last two years, with more than 20,000 applicants classified as “very high need.”
Minister for Housing Leeanne Enoch said the jump in applicants is not unexpected given the impact of COVID-19 on the housing market.
Minister Enoch said the number of households on the register is beginning to stabilise.
The state government has committed $1.9 billion over four years to increase social housing stocks, which has been welcomed as a “good first step” by the Queensland Council of Social Services.
CEO Aimee McVeigh said the level of the housing crisis required the combined effort of commonwealth, state and local governments.
