2,419 people removed from Queensland social housing waitlist — ABC News Australia
In the Australian state of Queensland, 2,419 applicants were removed from the social housing waiting list in 2025–26 because department staff were unable to contact them. This accounted for nearly a third of all cancelled applications, ABC News Australia reports.
Gaps in contact record-keeping
The Department of Housing's policy requires staff to make reasonable attempts to contact an applicant before cancelling an application. However, the rules do not specify a minimum period or number of such attempts after which a person can be considered unreachable.
An audit by the Queensland Audit Office, released in June, found that the department could not properly monitor whether staff had made enough attempts to contact applicants. The department did not collect data on contact methods and the number of attempts made before applications were cancelled.
Calls to change the rules
Fiona Caniglia, chief executive of the Q Shelter organisation, said this was a system-level problem. According to her, people without housing may be unreachable because of illness, unpaid bills or fears about answering calls.
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Caniglia proposed setting clear criteria: waiting at least six months and making no fewer than six contact attempts before removing a person from the waiting list. She also warned that non-transparent procedures could create the impression that applications are being cancelled under political pressure to reduce the register.
Queensland Housing Minister Sam O’Connor said staff make reasonable and multiple attempts to contact all applicants, and that there had been no instructions to cancel applications prematurely. According to him, the number of people on the waiting list fell by 4,245 between September 2024 and July 2026 due to an increase in the supply of social housing and more frequent application reviews.
Gympie resident Colin Betts, 66, who lives with post-traumatic stress disorder, said he learned that he had been removed from the list in 2025. He claims that the department had his current phone number. The man, who had been living in an abandoned house without electricity or hot water, bought a van with money raised through a community fundraiser and plans to live there with his dog when he can no longer stay in the house.
