QUEENSLAND’S Miles government will put $61 million into creating pathways to help First Nations peoples into home ownership.
Co-designed by First Nations peoples, the Our Place Action Plan 2024-27 includes multiple pathways to help First Nations peoples into home ownership, and also establishes a dedicated community housing upgrade program to be delivered in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Queensland.
As part of a $12 million investment, the government will 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, it will also create a funding program to help maintain and upgrade homes, as part of a $20 million allocation.
Part of the plan is to deliver a housing program to support First Nations peoples and families who are at risk of homelessness in a preventative move, or chronically homeless in a regional location, and to increase the number of First Nations community-controlled organisations delivering specialist homelessness services.
“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,” said Aunty Mary Doctor, chair of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Queensland.
The investment was announced at four completed homes on Brisbane’s northside built in partnership with Umpi Korumba Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Corporation for Housing.
“Together, Homes for Queenslanders and Our Place will maximise outcomes for First Nations peoples and communities and make strong progress towards closing the housing gap in Queensland,” the state government said.
The state government’s Homes for Queenslanders program aims to deliver 1 million new homes across the state by 2046. This includes 1,200 social homes in First Nations communities delivered in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander local government authorities and communities. Through the program the government has delivered hundreds of homes across 17 remote and discrete communities.
Actions in the plan also include opportunities for the First Nations building and construction industry and delivering apprenticeships and training.
Minister for Employment and Small Business, Minister for Training and Skills Development and Gubbi Gubbi man Lance McCallum said that as part of the state government’s Big Build program, there are 6,500 First Nations apprentices and trainees in training, and their VET participation rates are more than double non-indigenous people.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was asked at a Media Club lunch in Brisbane last week whether Queensland would get a similar deal to the Northern Territory’s $4 billion investment announced by the federal government last month that aims to halve overcrowding and provide maintenance and repairs. Albanese said the Queensland already had “substantial” housing deals, including money specifically for repairs in remote Indigenous housing as part of the forthcoming Housing Australia Future Fund.
