Brisbane Mission Gets $7.3M Boost to House 110 Rough Sleepers

Emanuel City Mission in Brisbane's CBD has secured a $7.3 million state government funding injection that will allow it to open 110 emergency shelter beds seven nights a week — a major expansion aimed at addressing the city's worsening rough sleeping crisis.

Mission leader Robbie Curtis spoke with 4BC Brisbane this week during a visit to the centre's courtyard, describing how demand has never been higher. Curtis recently completed a 2,500-kilometre fundraising walk that raised $1.1 million in community donations — an effort he credits to the generosity of ordinary Queenslanders who recognise the scale of the problem.

Currently operating overnight shelter just one night a week, the mission plans to scale to a full seven-night, 110-bed model within 18 months, targeting rough sleepers currently bedding down in parklands and on footpaths across the city. State Housing Minister Sam O'Connor championed the funding commitment, which Curtis described as the result of a rare alignment between government priorities and frontline reality.

"For too long we've turned people away," Curtis said. "This era of leadership has really heard and seen that — and great things have happened as a result."

But Curtis says the face of need is shifting. Alongside chronically homeless visitors, the mission is now regularly seeing housed residents tipped to the edge by cost-of-living pressures — people dropping in for a grocery pack, a load of laundry, or a hot meal before returning to rentals they are barely keeping. Up to 250 people pass through the centre each day.

"They're hanging on to their tenancy," Curtis said. "They don't know how to do this struggle. It's a half-hour visit — washing clothes because the machine at home isn't working anymore."

The mission's courtyard model is built around dignity rather than management. There are no security checkpoints at the entrance. Visitors arrive in a green, open space that includes a playground for families, a free laundry, showers, toiletry packs, and a daily hot lunch prepared by volunteers. Curtis says the effect is near-immediate.

"Thirty per cent better within 15 minutes — a feed, a shower, clean clothes on. Then people can really start to gather their thoughts."

The centre has served as a daytime sanctuary for 16 years and is widely regarded as a soft-landing model — welcoming before it is corrective, staffed by a team trained to support rather than to manage. Families, including mothers with young children and grandparents, make up a growing share of visitors.

With the 2032 Brisbane Olympics drawing closer, the $7.3 million commitment signals a shift in how local authorities are approaching street homelessness. Curtis is asking the broader community to get involved before 2028, whether through volunteering, in-kind donations, or simply spreading awareness of the services available.