Housing waitlist cancellations a 'systems level problem', advocates say

Colin Betts dons his Santa suit, collects his vibrant signs painted with positive messages, and walks barefoot out to the roadside.

Accompanied by his faithful dog, Meri Rose, the 66-year-old brandishes the signs to the honks and waves of the passing traffic.

Nicknamed the Barefoot Santa of Gympie, Mr Betts has been a public fixture in the regional Queensland town for the past decade.

"It's all in fun and laughter, laughter's good medicine," he said.

"A bit of positive energy, that to me means a lot."

Mr Betts lives with post-traumatic stress disorder and has been on the verge of homelessness for five years, squatting in an abandoned home with no power or hot water.

But that house is being relocated and Mr Betts has weeks to find a new place to sleep.

Last month, he went to the local housing service centre to enquire about his status on the social housing waitlist.

Mr Betts was shocked to learn he had been removed from the list in 2025 for being uncontactable by housing officers.

He said the officer confirmed Mr Betts's current phone number was on the housing department's system, and he denied missing any calls from them.

"I said 'you've got my phone number'" … why couldn't they catch up with me?" he said.

"I'm just one of hundreds being taken off the list. The system's not broken, it's non-existent."

Gaps in record keeping

Mr Betts was one of thousands of social housing applicants removed from the waitlist for being uncontactable in the last financial year.

Queensland Housing Minister Sam O'Connor told a July budget estimates hearing 2,419 applicants were removed for being uncontactable in 2025-26, making up nearly one-third of all cancelled applications.

Department of Housing policies require staff to make "reasonable attempts" to contact applicants before cancelling their application.

There is no minimum time frame nor number of contact attempts required before an applicant is deemed uncontactable.

However, a government audit for the last financial year found the department could not adequately monitor whether staff were making reasonable attempts to contact applicants.

The June report from the Queensland Audit Office (QAO) said the department did not compile data on how applicants were contacted, nor how many times they were contacted before their applications were cancelled.

Fiona Caniglia, CEO of housing and homelessness group Q Shelter, said there were many reasons why homeless people could be difficult to contact, including illness, unpaid bills and fears about answering the phone.

"I think we've got a systems level problem here,"

she said.

"It would be wrong to give up too soon when we're talking about some of the most disadvantaged people in our community," she said.

Policy reform needed

Ms Caniglia said the report identified systemic issues that needed policy reform, including the introduction of clear parameters for the cancellation of people's social housing applications.

She said agencies should need to wait at least six months — and have made at least six attempts to contact someone — before being able to remove them from the waitlist.

Ms Caniglia also said the department needed to address gaps in record keeping which could have led to people at risk of homelessness having housing applications cancelled.

"A failure to implement transparent, consistently managed policies could lead to the public perception that applications are being cancelled due to political pressure to reduce the size of the waitlist," Ms Caniglia said.

The number of people on the waitlist was reduced by 4,245 between the LNP state government coming to office in September 2024 and July 2026.

In a statement to the ABC, Mr O'Connor said that was due to an increased supply of social housing and more frequent and thorough reviews of social housing applications.

He said officers made "reasonable, multiple attempts" to contact all applicants.

"No direction has been issued to prematurely cancel applications," Mr O'Connor said.

"Applications are only cancelled in very limited circumstances.

"We're properly managing the system to ensure every effort can be made to get housing help to vulnerable Queenslanders as quickly and early as possible to help prevent homelessness."

'I don't want to live on the street'

In Gympie, Mr Betts said any assurances from the government over improved housing supports were "just words".

"'We're helping people, the housing's coming down', yeah nah," he said.

Last week Mr Betts bought a van using more than $5,000 donated to him from a public fundraiser.

He planned to live in the van with his dog, Meri Rose, once he could no longer squat in the abandoned house.

"The people in Gympie are beautiful people; they are so good to me," he said.

"I don't want to live on the street because I know what it's like."