With cost of living and rents increasing and affordable housing options still scarce across the state, Vinnies Queensland say this year’s National Homelessness Week (1 –7 August) isn’t just a time for awareness –it’s a time for action.

With many regions in Queensland continuing to experience a rental vacancy rate of less than 1 per cent, and rent costs increasing dramatically in the last 12 months, CEO Kevin Mercer said Members were hearing from a growing number of Queenslanders struggling to afford to keep a roof over their head.

“With the competitive rental market across the state and extremely low rental vacancy rates, social housing properties are needed to meet the needs of our most vulnerable community members who simply cannot afford to put a roof over their head,” he said.

“We hope this year’s National Homelessness Week will shine a light on those who are currently or at risk of becoming homeless—everyone deserves to have a roof over their head.”

Mr Mercer said Vinnies Queensland was receiving a significant number of calls from people struggling to find affordable housing, with many finding themselves homelessness or facing imminent homelessness.

“We’re doing what we can to help, but we need to be united in working towards ending homelessness in Queensland,” he said.

“We are continuing to advocate and talk with our political leaders to see further action and investment in social housing and are starting to see some promising developments with a recent national housing summit called by the Australian Government to address this critical issue.”

In the last financial year, Vinnies Queensland has received more than 2,000 calls a week for its support services across south-east Queensland, and provided 103,597 nights of accommodation to those in need.