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Community

3 December, 2021

Vinnies is committing to keeping Queenslanders housed this Christmas

AS the holiday season begins, rental vacancy rates decrease, and rental prices increase putting families in need at risk of homelessness.

By Isabella Guzman Gonzalez

Image by Isabella Guzman Veronica Innes, Lorraine Asprey, Toni Robson and Jennifer Thaiday at the Showground Mall Vinnies
Image by Isabella Guzman Veronica Innes, Lorraine Asprey, Toni Robson and Jennifer Thaiday at the Showground Mall Vinnies

Seeing how during the pandemic this issue escalated, Vinnies created the initiative ‘Keep Queenslanders Housed.’ Far North Queensland president of the Diocese Regional Council President (Vinnies), Veronica Innes said COVID heavily contributed to scarce rental vacancy, and it is aggravated by the holiday season. 

“Because of the difficulties with COVID and the poor housing affordability at the moment, we looked at what we could do to keep people in their houses,” Ms Innes said “It can be very difficult to get somebody into housing but keeping them there it’s a little bit easier, so we want to help people before they lose their house. “So, if their rent has gone up we work with them to keep that housing, we advocate with real estate agencies and owners, we provide them with some funding and we help them create a long term plan,” Ms Innes said. 

Ms Innes says that there are no magical solutions or formulas for this problem, and that they simply go as far as they can to prevent people from losing their housing. 

“Our response comes from the heart. We don’t have one solution for everyone, there are different approaches for each individual; sometimes it can be advice, or financial support, sometimes we can refer them for counselling. We do as much as we can,” Ms Innes said. 

Although there is not a direct way that the community can support Vinnies in this task, Ms Innes said that there are many other ways in which they can help. “You can volunteer at our stores, or even just by shopping at our stores that supports what we’re doing, you can make donations through our 1800 VINNIES line, and you can even support other Christmas charities like ‘Adopt a Family’ because that relieves some of the pressure from us,” she said.

Despite the difficult panorama, Ms Innes reiterates her good wishes for Queenslanders and their families this Christmas. “My wish for people this Christmas is that they have food on their table, a roof over their heads, peace in their home and joy in their hearts,” she said. If you’d like to make Christmas a merrier one for struggling Cairns and Tablelands families, you can donate to the Vinnies Christmas Appeal to help fund food, emergency accommodation and essentials. 

To donate, visit vinnies.org.au/donate or call 13 18 12.

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