Queensland Residents draws to the attention of the House that the significant increase in people experiencing homelessness is not receiving the level of response that is required for the scale of this issue. In the Brisbane Zero 2023-34 Collaborative Snapshot there were over 2300 people sleeping rough in the Brisbane area alone, not including surrounding councils. This number has grown, and with councils such as Brisbane City and Moreton Bay taking punitive actions there is significant stress amongst the people suffering as well as the support services that are working to help get people off the street. 

The previous Labor government and the current LNP government have made some improvements in talking to support services and commissioning a review into homeless responses, but nowhere near enough to have an impact on this crisis. We have capacity under disaster management principles to engage emergency shelters; and take a stronger Shelter First approach. We just saw these exact supports enacted for ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, and now people have nowhere to go with those shelters reducing capacity to previous levels. The supports and accommodations are simply not there, people only turn to tents if there is no other option. 

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to do all in its power to ensure that the government declare a state of emergency for people experiencing homelessness, and deploy all appropriate measures to provide shelter and support.