Coast a homeless hotspot | Fraser Coast News | Local News in Fraser Coast

The Wide Bay has been highlighted as a homeless hotspot in the Australian Institute of Heath and Welfare's latest report.

Figures released yesterday, based on 2006 census data, showed while the homeless rate had dropped in Queensland, the Wide Bay was grappling with an increase in 107 homeless people per 10,000 of the population.

Of all 27,000 homeless people in Queensland, half of those were living temporarily with friends or relatives and the remainder either slept rough or at boarding houses.

The report also found a concerning rise in the number of homeless youths in Queensland with more than half the homeless under the age of 35.

Kylie Morrison from Fraser Coast Housing said the new figures were no surprise to her at all.

“Except what I see here on the Fraser Coast are 14- to 22-year-olds sleeping rough,” she said.

“Lots of young people are coming here because it's too expensive to be homeless in the big cities.

“What they don't realise is we have a quarter of the resources here than there.”

The figures found that in Bundaberg a significant proportion of homeless were in boarding houses.

In Hervey Bay, however, there were many people sleeping on the streets, in a car or improvised dwellings on bush blocks.

Mr Morrison said a lot of young homeless people chose to sleep rough in the Bay depending on the season.

“In summer there are lots of young youths in the Bay - they want to be near the water. They think it's an awesome way of life,” she said.

“But it's bizarre because in winter they all come back to Maryborough. It's almost like a trend.”

The federal government this week started rolling out funding for its multi billion dollar halving homelessness by 2020 initiative.