Improved infrastructure, more jobs and investor attraction are all promised to make up the Queensland government's runway to the Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games — but homelessness advocates fear housing affordability and availability will fall short of the finish line come 2032.
Calls to commit turning the athletes' village into social and affordable housing after the Games is one of the solutions outlined in a new report released today by the state's peak housing body, Q Shelter.
The first South-East Queensland Displacement Report provides a snapshot of current housing conditions and will be released every year in the lead-up to the Olympics.
Its creators said the report would monitor the amount of people displaced in Brisbane, Moreton Bay, Logan, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich and Redlands — where most of the Games infrastructure will be built — as well as the impact on renters and home owners.
"Mega events like the Brisbane 2032 Games … It's the kind of event that attracts a workforce to build the infrastructure," Q Shelter chief executive Fiona Caniglia said.
"It's also the kind of event that attracts a lot of tourists from within Australia but also overseas.
"The demand for tourism accommodation and all housing can really spike in the lead-up."
Housing affordability
In the 12 months between June 2024 and 2025, the Australian Housing Urban Research Institute (AHURI) found rental affordability worsened in Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast.
Data showed that in the Brisbane City Council Local Government Area (LGA), for example, the average weekly rent increased from $510 to $550 for a one-bedroom unit, which is almost half of the weekly wage of a low-income single person household.
The average weekly rent for a three-bedroom house on the Gold Coast increased to $830, which is 42 per cent of the wage of a low-income family household.
Rents for three-bedroom homes grew faster than family incomes across all seven LGAs investigated in the report.
Ms Caniglia said she was concerned that would worsen in the lead-up to the Games.
"The amount of income that you need to afford a mortgage has increased also," she said.
Head of development at AHURI and one of the report's authors, Tom Alves, said south-east Queenslanders should also brace for increasing house prices closer to 2032.
"There has been a significant uptick in house prices immediately before this kind of event, so we are starting to monitor to see if that happens here," Dr Alves said.
The future of the athletes' village
Around 2,000 units will be built around Brisbane's RNA showgrounds to house 10,000 athletes from across the world during the Games.
In a statement, Minister for Housing Sam O'Connor said the facilities would leave a "housing legacy after the Games with thousands of new homes to become a reality".
Ms Caniglia is calling for greater clarity around what portion will become social or affordable homes.
"We've been really pleased to hear positive engagement around how there can be a housing legacy from the Games from the state government, but now we need to lock it in," she said.
The report pointed to examples like the 1956 Melbourne Games, where 600 homes from the athletes' village were repurposed into public housing.
The number of households on Queensland's social housing register increased by 16 per cent between June 2024 and March 2025.
Mr O'Connor said the state government would deliver 53,500 social and community homes by 2044.
"Since coming to office, the Crisafulli government has already contracted 2,990 additional social and affordable homes, backed by the largest investment in social and community housing in Queensland's history," he said.
Looking ahead to 2032
The number of households receiving emergency hotel and motel assistance for crisis accommodation increased by 1,664 households, or by 114 per cent, across the seven Games LGAs between June 2024-25.
While the authors conceded this was partly due to a change in eligibility criteria, Ms Caniglia is concerned crowds of tourists in 2032 could take up much needed crisis accommodation.
"There is also a slight increase [in the amount of] temporary accommodation geared to the tourism market, and a lot of those properties have been assessed in the report as the kinds that could potentially be put into the private rental market," she said.
"So, over time we really want to watch if that's increasing everywhere … if we see homes leave the long-term housing market, that can have a significant impact on [homelessness]."
Ms Caniglia hopes the annual report will help inform policies and ensure planning for 2032 accommodates all Queenslanders.
"This is a unique opportunity to create a legacy we can be proud of that will make a real impact on homelessness, not in four years when it'll be too late."
