Wynnum welcomes new homeless and housing hub

Wynnum locals will have access to a one stop shop for homelessness services and support through a Queensland Government funding initiative that will help people survive homelessness with dignity.

Member for Lytton Joan Pease said Volunteering Queensland had received $90,995 from the Dignity First Fund to establish a Wynnum Community Hub to help provide essential services to people experiencing homelessness in the Bayside area.

“The Hub, to be based at the Wynnum Community Centre in Florence Street, will provide an accessible point of entry for information and referral to the broader service system,” Ms Pease said.

“As part of the Hub operations, the government has also decided to extend indefinitely the Capalaba Housing Service Centre’s outreach service to Wynnum that we introduced last year.”

Ms Pease said the Wynnum outreach service would continue to operate at the community centre fortnightly.

The service helps people with social housing applications, or to access services such as RentConnect, or products such as bond loans or rental grants, to help them in the private rental market.

“The Wynnum Community Hub, run by Volunteering Queensland will provide a wrap around supportive service, enabling vulnerable people to connect to appropriate social and community support services and to build on existing services in Wynnum and in the Wynnum Community Centre such as Centrelink, Bayside Legal Service, tenancy advice (QSTARs) and Capalaba Housing Outreach Service,” Ms Pease said.

Minister for Housing and Public Works Mick de Brenni said the extension of the Capalaba Housing Service Centre’s outreach service would help to fill the service gap left by the Newman government’s closure of the Wynnum Housing Service Centre in 2012.

“The closure of the Wynnum HSC is another shameful example of the previous government’s savage cuts to frontline services,” Mr de Brenni said.

“From day 1 the Palaszczuk government has had a strong commitment to restore frontline services, and Joan Pease has worked hard to ensure people in this community have access to housing services.

“The previous government treated people experiencing homelessness and public housing tenants with disdain.

“Everyone has the right to live with dignity irrespective of the situation they may find themselves in, but with homelessness comes isolation and marginalisation.

“We need to offer hope as well as support. By providing support services within a community hub, there is also an opportunity for people to interact socially, for them to engage and connect with others and to access the information and support they need.

“This is particularly important for people who have been homeless for a long time, and who have lost touch with many of the social and community connections we take for granted.”

[ENDS] 23 January, 2017

Media Contact: Cat Milton 0410 644 113