Brisbane City Council’s annual Homeless Connect donation drive has kicked off, supporting the most vulnerable in our communities.
The donation drive supports Council’s one-day event in June – Homeless Connect – which provides free services to people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. The services include access to medical and allied health care professionals, haircuts, support for housing and employment, clothing, food and other items.
The next Homeless Connect event will be held on Thursday 19 June 2025 at Brisbane Showgrounds, Bowen Hills (corner of Alexandria Street and Gregory Terrace).
You can donate now by taking non-perishable food and toiletries to your local ward office or local Council library.
In-demand items include:
- canned tuna and salmon
- toothbrushes, toothpaste and deodorant
- shaving blades and cream
- coffee and tea
- long-life milk
- canned soup and vegetables
- rice and pasta
- bodywash, shampoo and conditioner
- cereal and muesli bars.
Cr Cassidy’s Ward Office in Sandgate is one of many donation drop off locations.
Brisbane City Council has recently been under fire for announcing they would evict those experiencing homelessness from Council parks.
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the vast majority of campers were “choosing to be homeless and had refused accommodation”, however a number of advocacy groups say it’s much more complicated by that.
For example, Micah Projects say dozens of people experiencing homelessness across Brisbane do not have identification, so they don’t qualify for emergency accommodation.
The Council Opposition has criticised the Lord Mayor for failing to consult with housing and homelessness organisations before the decision.
The Opposition (Brisbane Labor) has calling on the Brisbane City Council to:
- Increase funding to Council’s ‘Pathways out of Homelessness’ grant program to $5million per year.
- Call on State Government to adequately fund local organisations to help people sleeping rough to get identification documents, include digital IDs.
- Call on State Government to purchase more supported emergency accommodation to house those sleeping rough.
- Decrease infrastructure charges, rates and development application fees for community housing providers to ensure feasible pipeline of supply that is tracked on progress.
Leader of the Council Opposition, Cr Jared Cassidy and the Brisbane Labor team recently hosted a roundtable with housing and homelessness organisations.
“It was insightful to hear about the challenges some of Brisbane’s most vulnerable residents face firsthand from stakeholders in the housing and homelessness space,” Cr Cassidy said.
“There must be a better way to approach this issue than booting people out of parks without first understanding there is not housing available for them. It’s heartless.
“Despite the Lord Mayor claiming that everyone sleeping rough in Brisbane has been offered accommodation, we learnt that is simply not the case. We know the Lord Mayor has never visited the crisis accommodation he is claiming to be available to people sleeping rough in Brisbane.
“Community Housing Providers have told us that there is less crisis accommodation available in Brisbane than there was 5 years ago. So why is the Lord Mayor now saying there is sufficient crisis housing?
“This issue is complex and needs to be approached with meaningful change which balances community safety with compassion.”
