by Paul Weston
January 1, 2026 - 2:00PM
The Gold Coast has had a 40 per cent increase in the waiting list for social housing in a 12-month period, with the shock data highlighting the city’s worsening accommodation crisis.
Queensland-wide figures show that for the third quarter of 2024, there were 47,820 people on the social housing waitlist. That number in a year increased by 10,808 to 58,628.
For the Coast, the number of people on the waiting list for the same period increased from 1606 to 2255 – another 649 people signing up for social housing.
In worsening signs, squatters in the Christmas-New Year returned to Southport’s Carey Park where there was a tent city last year.
Gaven MP and former Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon has questioned why Housing Minister Sam O’Connor opposed the $150m Arundel Hills Country Club redevelopment and the Government had stalled Labor’s plan to green light the $1.2bn Robina Breakwater project.
“That’s an awful first-year record for a Housing Minister whose first act was to axe hundreds of new homes in his own backyard, many of which would have been affordable homes for our teachers, nurses and police,” Ms Scanlon said.
“The Gold Coast is now the most expensive city in the country to rent in, yet the Crisafulli Government has 2700 homes at Robina stuck in limbo because of ideological opposition to affordable housing.
“You can’t fix a housing crisis by cutting homes. But that’s exactly what this Government has done, more Queenslanders locked out housing, pushing the housing register even higher.”
Mr O’Connor said it was impossible to turn around Labor’s housing crisis in a single year.
But he said the new Government had made big progress on increasing supply by more than doubling the number of social and affordable homes under contract or construction to almost 5,800 and by funding the infrastructure needed to unlock 98,000 new homes across Queensland.
“The Member for Gaven’s rushed rezoning of sport and recreation land in Arundel was strongly opposed by our Gold Coast community and repeatedly rejected by every single Councillor in the Chamber, so by continuing to ignore this community just across the M1 from her own, Meaghan Scanlon is showing that Labor still just doesn’t get the Gold Coast,” he said.
“Meaghan Scanlon’s legacy as Housing Minister was to be part of a Labor Government who delivered an average of 509 social homes a year over their decade of decline, so with the Crisafulli Government’s record investment of $5.6 billion into social and community housing I’ll happily compare housing delivery figures for any year I’m fortunate enough to serve in this role.”
Q-Shelter general manager Jackson Hills said social housing lists were increasing despite record investment in Queensland due to “deep systemic issues” like soaring rents, low vacancy rates and high population growth.
“Building thousands of social and community homes is absolutely essential yet the challenge isn’t just about supply — it’s about affordability across the whole housing system,” he said.
Until the “underlying drivers” were addressed, pressure on the Coast would remain.
