31st of May 2022
By Bianca Wylie
An emerging social housing development, Uplift Affordable Housing, is to commence operation in Queensland within the next few months and can provide hope for those in need of social housing.
The rising social housing demand in Queensland continues as people in need of social housing face lengthy delays as a struggle to meet requests continues to rise.
The Queensland Council of Social Service (QCOSS) CEO Aimee McVeigh said Queensland recorded record-low vacancy rates, high interstate migration rates, and families sleeping in cars and tents.
"On average, Queenslanders in need of social housing are waiting in excess of 28 months," she said.
Additionally, a QCOSS report from 2021 found 50,301 people on the social housing register in Queensland.
Uplift Affordable Housing co-founder Melina Skidmore said Uplift's mission is to provide two housing streams.
"We have emergency rapidly deployable houses designed and created specifically for that; they are not meant to be long term.
"Our big project is our micro-eco villages, which consist of six shipping container-sized homes per village that are grouped to create a community of their own," she said.
Ms Skidmore said the idea for Uplift originated as she is passionate about finding a solution for the social housing problem after experiencing living in social housing herself.
"As someone who has lived in social housing as a single mom with kids and as a carer, there is no period in my life where I could say housing was good," she said.
Ms Skidmore said her goal for Uplift within the next 12 months is to have at least three micro eco-villages in Queensland, with one in Brisbane, Logan and Ipswich.
Just SDA Management managing director Justin MacDonald said in Australia, during the commencement of the global pandemic, state governments temporarily found a solution to homelessness before exacerbating the problem further.
"During the pandemic, state governments put homeless people in paid hotel accommodation, which was amazing and should have happened earlier.
"It solved many problems, but unfortunately, the pin was pulled.
"The uplift program provides a step up if you're homeless living rough," he said.
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