Rural and regional homelessness in Queensland mining communities: Implications for rethinking the housing and homelessness policy landscape

Abstract

Rural homelessness has largely been silenced in homelessness narratives and social policy in Australia and throughout the world. This paper reports on data from a larger qualitative study about homelessness in rural and regional Central Queensland mining communities located within the Bowen Basin region, inland from Australia's eastern seaboard. Semi-structured, qualitative interviews and focus groups were conducted with people who had lived experience of homelessness in the rural mining communities of Mackay (regional), Moranbah and Dysart (rural), and service provider representatives and community advocates. The qualitative analysis revealed that people experience homelessness in rural and regional communities in unique ways that are different to metropolitan constructions of homelessness. This research identified rural and regional poverty, the nature of boom or bust economies, over-stressed human service providers, social isolation and lack of affordable housing as factors contributing to homelessness in rural and regional mining communities. This paper highlights the urgent need for more scholarly research to inform and promote more critical social policy approaches that frame homelessness as a public policy priority in rural and regional mining communities.