A local financial counsellor said Logan had become “as expensive as the other major cities”, forcing some struggling residents to relocate.
But he said it was not all “doom and gloom”.
Financial counsellor program manager at YFS, Brian Harvey, said YFS’s Logan client base had expanded 25 per cent in the past year.
“Six hundred and sixty Logan residents were supported with emergency relief and 450 were supported with financial counselling and capability,” Mr Harvey said.
“We do our bet to get the best outcome for each client, whatever that may be.”
Mr Harvey said the housing market was largely responsible for the increase.
He said rent increases of $5 to $20 were manageable for most clients, but the “vast majority” could not afford increases of $50 to $150.
“That becomes a real crisis,” he said.
“People are becoming homeless because they can’t afford to pay the rent.
“We used to refer people into the Logan area because rents were cheap, and they’re not anymore – they’re just the same as everywhere else.
“The other big issue is that there used to be rental properties available in the Logan area, but there’s not anymore.”
Mr Harvey said there were also more people with mortgage stress in the last 12 months.
He said this was due to the rising cost-of-living, illness and disease, property maintenance and other person loans.
“So once people are on that sort of circle, it keeps getting worse,” he said.
“It would be more on the new side where people are defaulting on their mortgage.”
He said the advice YFS counsellors gave to clients was complex and personalised, but often times involved requesting a moratorium, in which a client’s repayments were placed on a temporary hold.
Mr Harvey said the moratorium enabled clients to “breath and reassess” their situation.
Sometimes people are forced to relocate.
“They’ve had no choice,” he said
“They just can’t get anywhere to live, so they are forced to move further up north past Gympie and then they’ve lost all their social networks.
“Some people are moving back in with family again.”
Mr Harvey said although all community agencies in Logan were “bogged down by the weight of homelessness”, his job wasn’t all “doom and gloom”.
“A lady came to me a while ago because she was behind with her mortgage and her rates,” he said.
“She was diagnosed with cancer, had a car loan and had all sorts of trouble with her insurance company.
“We got it all sorted out, we got her a claim through her insurance company so she got enough money to pay off her mortgage – she paid off her rates… and her car loan.
“After everything was said and done, I think she ended up with about $100,000 in her pocket.”
It was instances like these that Mr Harvey said were the most rewarding.
“It can be rewarding to say the least,” he said.
“We’re here and here to help.
“Out of that gloom and doom we do get significant win and we do get to help people back on track again – it may take a while, but we eventually do.”
