NCV would like to invite anyone from our community who has an interest in any aspect of housing (planning, construction, affordability, innovation, etc.) and avenues of addressing the needs of homeless people in our area. The Working Group members are focussed on practical responses to immediate needs and possible longer-term plans and policy responses at all levels of government to both housing and homelessness.
If you are interested in joining or just finding out more about our activities please contact our Convenor at [email protected]
The work of the Housing and Homelessness Working Group can be viewed at: Northside affordable housing and homelessness
FAQs
What is involved/expected of me if I decide to join this Working Group?
Our group is made up of people from our community who are interested in issues to do with the location/planning, design/cost or related issues to do with housing. The social and economic aspects of housing that have led to the increasingly problematic issue of homelessness is also a matter of concern. Our members work together, mainly online and you only need to spend as much time as you can afford, given our busy lifestyles. Our job is to address concerns of residents, to research related topics and add to our local body of knowledge about those housing and homelessness issues we want our elected representatives to engage with on our behalf. This may include issues at the local, state, national or global level.
Item #2
Item #3
The housing crisis in West Moreton
We know from our work engaging with the community over the last couple of years that rising homelessness, and housing unaffordability in North Brisbane including West Moreton is a priority concern for the community. The housing crisis in North Brisbane like the rest of Australia impacts everyone. We have Nourish Street Inc in Brisbane’s North, with no government funding feeding and supporting the homeless on the ground in West Moreton and beyond, feeding up to 200 rough sleepers every night but struggling to keep up with demand. However, with little adequate crisis housing, long housing lists, and rents at an all-time high, this situation is more than a crisis for those in immediate housing need. Medium rents are over $600 a week for a modest dwelling in Brisbane and very high demand with record low occupancy rates. Combined with record rapid population growth to our region, the problem will only get worse without significant changes in Housing supply and policy.
There is room for hope with creative initiatives like, Sharing with Friends developing and building their first Cooperative House, they are helping older women with very modest finances, “the missing middle”, to access their own homes and age with dignity and to combat loneliness as well as the ever rising rents. However, community led initiatives face big barriers such as high land and building costs, town planning restrictions, and a housing culture and system which is geared towards developers and is profit driven.
We have an understanding of the complex factors over decades which have contributed to the housing crisis (Pennington, A. 2023. Gen F-d: policies favour rich older people). The lack of neglect and attention by former governments to invest in public and social housing. The lack of a dedicated housing minister and dedicated portfolio, at a federal level by the previous conservative government. Of most significance to the current inequity in home ownership was the introduction by John Howard, in the 90s to super charge and incentivise the tax system, combined with record low interest rates. This lead to a cultural shift towards viewing housing as a commodity to build wealth by reintroducing negative gearing and changes to capital gains. This has led us to an unthinkable situation where now our younger and future generations are looking at the prospect of never being able to own their own home. However, in combination with now 30 percent of the population being renters, we have also have still a system of very weak tenancy laws, high cost of living and poor wage growth, creating a class system of have and have nots. Those who own a home or several and those who do not and are destined to be lifelong renters. The median house price in Brisbane is now over a million dollars, this combined with a median rental being over $600 for a house and over $400 for a unit if you are lucky enough to find one, means being homeless is a real risk for many more people than ever before. It only takes one adverse life event such as unemployment, a health crisis and marriage breakdown to put a person or family into crisis. The lack of investment and crisis accommodation on top of this means homelessness can happen to anyone who does not own a home, but more likely to the most disadvantaged in our community. Aboriginal and Torres Strait people are almost 9 times more likely to be homeless. (Homelessness Australia, 2025).
We support immediate investment and change from all levels of government to work to change this NOW, and this starts with supporting those community led organisations on the ground who are already on the front line doing the work le with those most in need. In addition to this, we support long term thinking and changes in all aspects of the housing system for those in crisis, renters, and home owners to restore safe, secure and affordable housing for all in the longer term.