Homes for Queenslanders: Action to Close the Gap for First Nations communities

• Support for home ownership and dedicated housing maintenance and upgrade program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities announced
• Co-designed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Queensland, the peak body for First Nations housing in Queensland
• Latest part of Miles Government’s Homes for Queenslanders plan

The Miles Government has announced new actions to help Close the Gap on housing for First Nations Queenslanders as it delivers its Homes for Queenslanders plan.

Co-designed by First Nations peoples and backed in with an initial $61 million investment, the Our Place Action Plan 2024-27 includes a raft of pathways to help First Nations peoples into home ownership.

It also establishes a dedicated community housing upgrade program to be delivered in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Queensland.

Actions also include opportunities for the First Nations building and construction industry and delivering apprenticeships and training.

It was announced today at four completed homes on Brisbane’s northside built in partnership with Umpi Korumba Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Corporation for Housing.

The actions are outlined in Our Place: A First Nations Housing and Homelessness Roadmap to 2031 and Action Plan 2024-2027: www.qld.gov.au/OurPlaceActionPlan 

Quotes attributable to Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon:

“We’re determined to Close the Gap.

“To do that, we’re focussed on increasing home ownership for First Nations communities.

“As part of a $12 million investment we’ll set up a one-off subsidised modular homes program, a tailored Sales to Tenants program, home ownership education and support for pre-purchase readiness and post-purchase sustainability.

“In response to calls from Indigenous community housing organisations, we’ll also create a funding program to help them maintain and upgrades homes, as part of a $20 million allocation.

“We’ve delivered hundreds more homes across 17 remote and discrete communities, and through Homes for Queenslanders, we’ll build even more.

“David Crisafulli at the stroke of a pen, wiped millions in funding for Indigenous communities.

“Now, the LNP think our Homes for Queenslanders plan is too much. Just like he did last time, will he cut funding for First Nations communities again?”

Quotes attributable to Treaty, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships and Communities Minister Leeanne Enoch:

“The Miles Labor Government is focused on Closing the Gap in partnership with First Nations Queenslanders to co-design and accelerate better housing strategies and outcomes.

“Our Place means working with Indigenous councils and First Nations people to invest in more homes and jobs in remote communities and support more options for home ownership.

“Breaking down housing inequity that disproportionately affects First Nations Queenslanders is critically important to our combined effort to Close the Gap on disadvantage.

“It’s time the LNP came clean with Queenslanders on their plan to repeat their brutal cuts to housing and Indigenous communities if they sneak back into government with One Nation support.”       

Quotes attributable to Minister for Employment and Small Business, Minister for Training and Skills Development and Gubbi Gubbi man Lance McCallum:

“Under the Miles Labor Government’s Big Build, Queensland is in the biggest decade of infrastructure delivery in our state’s proud history, and Our Place is crucial to ensuring First Nations Queenslanders share in that prosperity.

“But it’s not just housing outcomes, we are training First Nations Queenslanders for the good jobs and better pay of our Big Build–right now there are 6,500 First Nations apprentices and trainees in training and their VET participation rates are more than double non-indigenous people.

“We also know there is a real risk of an LNP Government and their plan to fill a multi-billion budget blackhole by cutting the future of First Nations Queenslanders–slashing their training, skills, wages, and employment, right when they can least afford it.”

Quotes attributable to Neil Willmett, Chief Executive Officer of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Queensland

“Housing Queensland has worked closely with the Queensland Government to co-design Our Place to find housing solutions that will support First Nations Queenslanders to thrive.

“When governments listen to people about issues that affect them, they make better decisions, get better results, and deliver better value for money.

“The Government has listened to First Nations Queenslanders and together we have shaped an action plan that has a strong reform agenda to achieve change.

“Our Place is bold – it has to be to close the gap in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander housing inequality in Queensland – and supports our vision to shift the way we work and deliver First Nations housing in Queensland to grow a strong and sustainable sector.”

Quotes attributable to Aunty Mary Doctor, Chair of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Queensland:

“Our Place is focused on improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander housing outcomes in Queensland and has an important role in advising the State Government to address housing issues in Queensland,” she said.

“We were co-design partners of Our Place, and this ensures the approach to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander housing in Queensland is a shared responsibility by both government and the community-controlled sector. We are all ready to lead this change.

“The quality of Our Place shows significant substance, because it has been informed and designed by Australia’s leading housing experts.

“This piece of leading policy work is exactly what we have been seeking – our peak body looks forward to being part of the implementation of the initiatives in Our Place, so that our work can be a beacon of what can be achieved when government and community work together.”

Further information:

Anyone who needs housing assistance can contact their local Housing Service Centre during business hours or call the 24/7 Homeless Hotline on 1800 474 753.

ENDS

Media contact: Francis Dela Cruz - 0420 592 078