Branch History

In June 2004 members of the Queensland Indigenous community proposed a range of strategies for Qld Shelter to adopt, including:

·         Developing a statewide mechanism that provides Indigenous people with a voice, and an opportunity to advocate for improvements in housing at community, local, state and federal levels.
·         Increased employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people within the community housing sector and improvement in their representation on management committees;
·         Increase in Indigenous specific resources and programs to assist Indigenous people access and maintain housing. 

To further these key strategies community members present put forward a recommendation to the Queensland Shelter management committee to accept a proposal to establish an Indigenous Branch of Queensland Shelter. 

The recommendation was unanimously endorsed by the Management Committee of Queensland Shelter. Since then the Indigenous branch has contributed to:

• A review of the Murri Court system in December of 2005,
• Proposing a coordinated response to homelessness in the North, far North and North West regions of Queensland
• Facilitating a series of regional workshops documenting emergent Indigenous Housing trends.

Bill Lowah Queensland Shelter joined Queensland Shelter as our Indigenous policy officer in mid 2008 and has been working to reactivate the branch to ensure that Indigenous people are included in housing and affordability discussions.