Government will sell caravan parks to help housing

Three government owned commercial caravan parks will be offered for sale to ease the serious social housing shortage being experienced across Queensland said Housing and Public Works Minister Bruce Flegg.

The Newman Government will proceed with the sales as part of continued efforts to accommodate the 30,000 Queensland households currently waiting for social housing.

The Monte Carlo Caravan Park at Cannon Hill, Woombye Gardens Caravan Park at Woombye and Lazy Acres Caravan Park at Torquay are owned by the Public Trustee and jointly managed with the Department of Housing and Public Works.

“The Government is sensitive about the impacts the sale of these facilities may have on the parks’ residents and has imposed an 18 month change of use restriction as part of the sale agreements to enable immediate protection of tenure for the residents, he said.

Local housing service centres will assist all 300 park residents should they need it with applications for housing assistance. This includes departmental assistance to find a residence in the private rental market or assistance with an application for public housing.

He said the previous government had established the Caravan Park Accommodation Program in 2007 as a low cost accommodation option and since spent $19.3 million in acquisition and facility upgrading costs.

“On top of this significant expenditure, ongoing administration and management costs for these three caravan parks have been more than $1.1 million per year for the past two years.

“We must use this money to help accommodate the 30,000 Queensland families on the social housing register that are waiting for a home,” Dr Flegg said.

“The disposal of the caravan parks is the sensible and financially responsible decision – it is clearly unsustainable to continue investing in this program.

“All revenue raised from the sales will go to providing more social housing across Queensland”.

[ENDS] 31 July 2012

Media Contact: Graeme Hallett 0408 763 671