In Moreton Bay, homelessness is a crime

Moreton Bay City Council, just north of Brisbane, is attacking its homeless residents. Last week, the council overwhelmingly voted to repeal a measure that allowed camping in public spaces. From next week, camping on public land will be illegal. Council workers, with the assistance of Queensland Police, are being dispatched to evict anybody still camping—two encampments have already been cleared.

The move is the latest in a string of attacks on Moreton Bay’s homeless. In December, the council banned sleeping in vehicles, already a last resort option for many who can’t find housing. For this supposed “crime”, you can face fines of up to $8,000. Patrick Weir, 76 years old and a Vietnam War veteran, is one resident now threatened by the repeal.

“They’re saying we can’t stay here overnight. I mean, that’s just bullshit. When you’re homeless, where else are you going to go?”, he told the Guardian. Equally as cruel, the council has banned homeless people from owning pets, which, for many, provide companionship in lonely and difficult circumstances.

The council has cited “public health and safety” to justify the measures. But this surely doesn’t refer to the health and safety of the homeless themselves, who are now effectively banned from living in the town at all. The attacks seem to be more about protecting Moreton’s wealthiest from having to view people living in poverty.

It’s “sad and shocking that these people feel compelled to live like this”, according to Councillor Jodie Shipway. Councillor Adam Hain laments that the council “just became the soft touch” and that it’s not all bad because “a lot of these people have got smartphones”.

Moreton Bay has Queensland’s longest social housing waiting list—4,421 people are registered. Homelessness has increased by 90 percent in the last decade. In the last five years, house prices have risen by 80 percent; statewide rental vacancies remain at 1 percent, on average. In Redcliffe, within the Moreton Bay area, the vacancy rate is 0.6 percent.

The media and politicians focus on housing supply as the primary cause, but there is another factor. “An average of 34 percent of homes were unoccupied in [Brisbane’s] top 20 suburbs with the highest percentage of empty dwellings on Census night [2021]”, journalist Viva Hyde reported in the Courier Mail last year. “The figure soared to 60 per cent for the top 20 areas across Queensland.”

Many of the vacancies were due to short-stay holiday accommodation such as Airbnb, holiday investment properties and land-banking by property developers.