MEDIA STATEMENT: Delivering homes to tackle Labor’s soaring social housing waitlist

Delivering homes to tackle Labor’s soaring social housing waitlist 

• Crisafulli Government delivering 156 new social and affordable homes in Redbank Plains, Waterford West and Miles. 
• Labor’s decade of failure laid bare – final social housing waitlist of 2024 grows 4.5 per cent to nearly 50,000.
• New Homelessness Ministerial Advisory Council established to reduce homelessness across Queensland. 

The Crisafulli Government is accelerating the delivery of new social and affordable homes, as the true number of Queenslanders waiting for social housing due to Labor’s housing crisis was laid bare. 

Today, the first sod was turned on the construction of 89 social and 32 affordable homes at Redbank Plains, in Ipswich, part of the Crisafulli Government’s plan to deliver 53,500 additional social and community homes by 2044. 

Construction is already underway on another 29 new social homes in Waterford West and six more in Miles. 

After a decade of Labor’s inaction, social and affordable housing stock languished, failing to keep up with significant population growth and skyrocketing rentals. 

New data reveals Queensland’s social housing waitlist surged again in December 2024, growing by an additional 4.5 per cent across the State to 49,975 people – a 77 per cent increase since 2017 when these records began.

The Crisafulli Government’s Securing our Housing Foundations Plan will deliver more social housing, more community housing, and more homelessness services. 

The Redbank Plains homes are being delivered through a partnership between the Crisafulli Government, Community Housing Limited and ANZ.   

Community Housing Limited will deliver a mix of one, two and three-bedroom homes designed for older Queenslanders looking to downsize, freeing up larger homes for families. 

The combination of government funding and private sector financing ensures long-term affordability, including regional housing delivery.  

Minister for Housing Sam O’Connor also announced the establishment of the Homelessness Ministerial Advisory Council – which will meet for the first-time next month - and bring together leaders from across government, councils, housing, health, and community sectors to help better target crisis response and drive sustainable, long-term solutions to homelessness.

Minister for Housing Sam O’Connor said the social housing waitlist rise highlighted the ongoing challenge of Labor’s inaction, but the Crisafulli Government had a delivery plan. 

“Labor’s legacy is an out-of-control social housing waitlist which will take time to turn around after a decade of underinvestment,” Minister O’Connor said.