Join our Community Renewal programs

As well as providing social housing assistance, the Department of Housing also coordinates the Community Renewal program.

This program encourages residents, businesses and community organisations in targeted areas to work together with all levels of government to identify issues and develop projects that are important to the community and meet their needs.

Cairns Midnight Basketball is one of the great success stories of this program.

Each Friday night during the season, local young people benefit from meeting in a supervised, safe, drug, alcohol and tobacco free environment to play basketball. Informal mentors help young people reassess their lifestyle so they can work towards achieving life goals.

Cairns Basketball's Joel Khalu said Midnight Basketball gives young people a positive way to spend their Friday nights.

"It's been of real benefit to the kids and the community as a whole," he said.

"When Midnight Basketball began two years ago, we had an excellent turn-out, with 80 kids coming along to the games. Popularity has soared and now we have nights where we've got more than 300 kids involved."

Members of the community have reported that crime levels have reduced as a result of the Cairns Midnight Basketball program.

An employment and transport initiative is also proving useful for local residents and businesses in the Beenleigh-Yatala area. It links the labour and skills from the wider Beenleigh region to employment in the Yatala Enterprise Area industrial estate. Since the project began in January 2007, more than 360 local people have been employed at the Yatala industrial estate.

For more information about Community Renewal, the range of initiatives it is developing in each area, and how you can access new services or get involved, visit the Community Renewal website or check the White Pages for contact details in your area.

Community Renewal

The Department of Housing's Community Renewal program operates in the following areas:

Brisbane South including Acacia Ridge
Ph: (07) 3710 1250

Brisbane South West including Carole Park and Inala
Ph: (07) 3710 1250

Caboolture-Deception Bay including Caboolture East, Caboolture South and Deception Bay
Ph: (07) 5420 1301

Cairns West including Mooroobool and Manoora
Ph: (07) 4039 8879

Gold Coast North including Beenleigh and Eagleby
Ph: (07) 3287 8571

Gold Coast South including Labrador and Varsity Lakes
Ph: (07) 5583 1250

Logan including Marsden/Crestmead, Kingston, Loganlea and Woodridge
Ph: (07) 3884 9868

Townsville West including Vincent
Ph: (07) 4760 7464

Upper Ross including Condon, Kelso and Rasmussen
Ph: (07) 4760 7464