# 59 social and disability homes open in Waterford West and Southport Two community housing projects opened in Logan and on the Gold Coast this week: 56 social homes and three specialist disability homes, all run by one provider. --- Two new community housing projects opened in South East Queensland this week, adding 59 homes between them. A Queensland Government media statement published on Thursday 8 October 2026 announced the opening of 29 social homes at Waterford West, in Logan. A second government statement, issued on Friday 9 October, republished that day by Mirage News and reported by InDaily Queensland, announced 30 completed homes at Southport on the Gold Coast. The two projects share a provider, Community Housing Limited, and a purpose: most of the homes are meant for older tenants, many of whom already live in social housing and want something smaller. The count needs one clarification. Of the 59 homes, 56 are social homes and three are specialist disability homes, a separate category funded in a different way.
59homes opened across the two projects
41,995people on the register at 31 August
53,500social and community homes targeted by 2044

Queensland Government releases of 8 and 9 October 2026; Department of Housing and Public Works housing dashboard, updated 30 September 2026.

## What opened this week At Waterford West, the project is called Treefern Villas. According to the ministerial statement, it holds 18 one-bedroom and 11 two-bedroom homes, all on a single level, each with accessibility features and a private outdoor area. The homes are for Queenslanders aged over 55, including social housing tenants who want to move to a home that better fits their needs, a move the statement calls right-sizing. The statement was issued by Sam O'Connor, the Minister for Housing and Public Works, and quotes Carly Bairstow, the Queensland State Manager of Community Housing Limited. At Southport, the building is named Skyline View. The statement, as republished by Mirage News, gives 27 social homes and three specialist disability homes, and says they are designed for older women, people with disability and seniors in social housing who want to downsize. It does not give a bedroom mix. InDaily Queensland's report of 9 October carries the same figures.
The two projects side by sideAs described in the government releases
DetailWaterford WestSouthport
Homes2930
Type29 social27 social, 3 specialist disability
Bedrooms18 one-bedroom, 11 two-bedroomNot stated
Intended residentsPeople over 55, including tenants downsizingOlder women, people with disability, seniors downsizing
ProviderCommunity Housing LimitedCommunity Housing Limited

Queensland Government media statement, 8 October 2026; government release republished by Mirage News, 9 October 2026.

The downsizing element matters more than it first appears. When an older tenant leaves a three-bedroom public house for a one-bedroom villa, the larger home becomes available for a family on the register. A project of 29 small homes can therefore change the housing of more than 29 households, although neither release puts a number on that effect. The two official sources give different figures for the suburb: the ministerial statement of 8 October counts 29 homes opened with Community Housing Limited, while the Department of Housing and Public Works project page for new social housing in Waterford West, last updated on 18 August 2026, lists 44 homes (26 one-bedroom and 18 two-bedroom) being built by Community Housing (Homes for Regions) Limited, and neither says how the two relate. ## Who runs the homes Neither project is public housing in the strict sense. The Queensland Government's guide to housing assistance describes public housing as long-term social housing managed by the government itself, and community housing as social housing assistance delivered by non-government organisations. Both draw their tenants from the same list. Community Housing Limited describes itself on its own website as a not-for-profit organisation with more than 30 years of experience in the sector. On a page last modified in October 2025, it says it manages over 12,000 properties for more than 20,000 customers, with more than 420 staff in 30 offices across all six states and the Northern Territory. It calls itself the largest regulated community housing provider in Australia, a description that is the organisation's own. The Waterford West statement says more than 70 per cent of the State's social and community housing pipeline is being delivered with community housing providers. In Logan the share is higher: of 680 social and affordable homes underway in the city, 592 are with community housing providers, which leaves 88 delivered another way. Existing stock is a different picture. The department's housing dashboard counted 78,820 social and community homes in Queensland at 31 August 2026, a total that covers public housing, community housing and headleased homes. Of those, 18,512 were managed by community housing providers and other not-for-profit entities, a little under a quarter of the total. The share of new building going to providers is therefore about three times their share of homes today. ## How providers are registered "Regulated" has a precise meaning here. Community housing providers are overseen through the National Regulatory System for Community Housing, which its website says exists to ensure a well governed, well managed and viable sector. The system applies through a national law that each participating jurisdiction has adopted. Queensland takes part, along with New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory, South Australia and Tasmania. Victoria and Western Australia sit outside it. Each jurisdiction has a Registrar, and a primary Registrar handles providers that work across borders. According to Business Queensland, a provider that wants to deliver funded social housing in the state must be registered under the national system, with limited exemptions, and community housing assets are funded under the Housing Act 2003. Registered providers are placed in one of three tiers, which the national system describes as its first level of risk sorting. The tier depends on the scale and scope of what the provider does. A Tier 1 provider operates at large scale with ongoing development, against a benchmark of more than 350 tenancies, and must be a company. Tier 2 covers moderate scale and small development activity, with a benchmark of 50 to 500 tenancies. Tier 3 covers smaller providers with little or no development and a benchmark of fewer than 100 tenancies. The benchmarks overlap on purpose: the national system says an element of judgement is required, and that a Registrar may require a higher tier where more oversight is needed. Tier 1 carries the highest level of performance requirements and regulatory engagement, because a serious failure would affect the most tenants and the most assets. ## Social, affordable and specialist disability homes The releases use three labels that are easy to blur. A social home is let to a household from the housing register at a rent tied to income. The State's Social Housing Policy 2026, which took effect on 12 September 2026 and binds funded community housing providers, caps that rent at 25 per cent of assessable household income plus the household's Commonwealth Rent Assistance entitlement, or market rent if that is lower. An affordable home, in the same policy, is a distinct setting with its own income and asset limits. Its rent may reach 30 per cent of gross household income plus Commonwealth Rent Assistance, or 74.9 per cent of market rent, whichever is lower. Who qualifies for each is a subject of its own and is not covered here.
A separate system

Specialist disability homes are funded through the NDIS, not the housing register

The National Disability Insurance Scheme describes specialist disability accommodation as housing designed for people with extreme functional impairment or very high support needs. It is funded through a participant's plan, the resident pays a reasonable rent contribution, and every dwelling must be enrolled with the scheme by a registered provider.

That is why the three Southport disability homes are best counted apart. They sit in the same building and are run by the same provider, but the people who live in them reach them by a different route from the 27 households next door. ## The pipeline behind the two openings Both releases set the openings against a larger program. The government says it has committed $5.725 billion over four years to social and community housing, and that 11,205 social and community homes have been delivered or are underway toward a target of 53,500 by 2044. The Waterford West statement adds that the government expects to average 2,000 homes a year from 2028. The Southport statement puts the number of social and affordable homes underway on the Gold Coast at 543. The department's dashboard gives a stricter count, as at 31 August 2026. It separates homes that are finished from homes that are being built or are under contract.
Delivered, in the pipeline and targetedSocial and community homes, Queensland, at 31 August 2026
Delivered since 20234,672 Building or contracted7,018 Target by 204453,500

Department of Housing and Public Works housing dashboard, updated 30 September 2026. Delivered homes are counted from 1 July 2023. The middle bar includes affordable homes.

The dashboard's two figures and the 11,205 quoted in the releases are not counted on the same basis or at the same date, so they should not be added together or set against each other. What the dashboard does show is the distance left: with 4,672 homes delivered, 48,828 remain to be finished before 2044. The largest single project in the Southport story is still to come. The statement mentions the Southport Supportive Housing Project, a 213-home development of social and affordable homes with support services on site. The department's project page, last updated on 23 June 2026, describes a high-rise of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, with construction started and residents expected to move in during 2027. Mission Australia Housing, a Tier 1 provider, is to manage the tenancies and the property, and UnitingCare Queensland is to provide the onsite support. The building is intended for people on the Gold Coast who are homeless or at risk of it, including women who have experienced domestic and family violence and older women. ## The demand the homes meet The housing register, which the Queensland Government defines as the record of eligible applications for public and community housing, held 24,454 active households at 31 August 2026, or 41,995 people, according to the dashboard. Active means the household can accept an offer. That count follows the 44,294 people ABC News reported on 19 August for July 2026, a figure 2,299 higher, although the two come from different publications. In July and August 2026, 1,019 new households were assisted into social housing across the state. Set against those figures, 56 social homes are a small addition. They are also a real one, because existing homes almost never sit empty: the dashboard records 0.44 per cent of public homes as vacant at 31 August, and an average of 42.2 days to re-let an unoccupied one over the previous year. New supply and tenants moving on are the only ways households leave the register into a home. The private market around both suburbs offers little slack. The Real Estate Institute of Queensland's June quarter 2026 vacancy report, released on 30 July, put Logan at 0.8 per cent, unchanged on the quarter, and the Gold Coast at 1.5 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent. The state as a whole stood at 1.0 per cent. The institute classes anything up to 2.5 per cent as tight and 2.6 to 3.5 per cent as healthy. Its chief executive, Antonia Mercorella, said in that release that Queensland was still "a long way from what anyone would call a healthy rental market." For a household over 55 on a fixed income, a vacancy rate under 1 per cent in Logan means few listings and strong competition for each. That is the gap single-level one-bedroom villas are built to fill. ## What comes next Three dated markers follow from the sources. The Southport Supportive Housing Project is due to receive its first residents during 2027. The government's stated pace of 2,000 social and community homes a year, on average, applies from 2028. The 53,500 target runs to 2044. In the meantime, the department's dashboard is the place where progress can be checked against the announcements. Its latest edition, updated on 30 September, reports figures to 31 August, so the homes opened this week are not yet in its delivered count.