Queensland government to include $2.8 billion in budget for affordable housing

The Queensland government has said it has allocated $2.8 billion in funding to support up to 600 more homes including modular homes in its budget next week. 

Premier Steven Miles made the announcement on Monday at the QBuild Rapid Accommodation and Apprentice Centre in Eagle Farm, where modular homes are currently being built for delivery to the Torres Strait.

“My first budget as Premier of the state will help get more homes up off the ground, put more tradies on the tools, provide support for renters and our hardworking homelessness organisations,” said Miles in a statement.

“I know that to build the homes Queensland needs, we need to do things differently, which is why QBuild and businesses across the state will be enlisted to rollout more modular homes.”

According to the statement, the $2.8 billion “will help this part of the housing sector grow,” with houses delivered in locations “including Bundaberg, Innisfail, Mackay, and Warwick, along with others throughout remote and regional Queensland.”

The $2.8 billion is to “continue delivering Miles Government’s Homes for Queenslanders plan”, which includes the modular homes as part of a target of 53,500 new social homes. 

Benefits cited included cutting on-site construction time to three months from up to a year for traditionally-built homes, and helping get people out of temporary accommodation quicker.

QBuild is a business unit of the state government, delivering construction and maintenance services and training young people.

The Eagle Farm QBuild facility was opened in late 2022, and officially launched in March 2023. According to a state government count in Februrary the site had contributed to the delivery of more than 100 modular homes so far.  

The state budget will be delivered on June 11 and is expected to be approximately $3 billion in deficit.

Editor’s note. This sentence was added for context after the original version of the article was published. “The $2.8 billion is to “continue delivering Miles Government’s Homes for Queenslanders plan”, which includes the modular homes as part of a target of 53,500 new social homes.”

Picture: credit Queensland government

Further reading

Apprentices to build modular homes to ease shortages

Volo Modular on track to deliver 18 prefab houses for Queensland government by year’s end

New prefabricated housing factory and training centre opened at Eagle Farm