City of Moreton Bay in Qld votes to prohibit homeless Aussies from keeping pets in public spaces

A local council has voted to clamp down on homeless people sleeping rough in public spaces, including a new ban on pets and publicly sleeping in vans or cars.

City of Moreton Bay Mayor Peter Flannery proposed the tough new measures in response to what he said were “thousands” of complaints from ratepayers about the decline in safety and amenity following a sharp rise in the number of people camping in public spaces.

“Due to the actions of some, and that number is growing daily, a number of our public spaces have become unsafe or inaccessible to residents and our staff,” he said at the council’s meeting last week.

“This is unacceptable and I will not stand for it any longer.”

Mr Flannery said there were now 4500 people on the council’s social housing waiting list and more than 200 people were sleeping rough in open spaces.

He said the rise in homelessness has produced a rise in drug use, excessive alcohol use, littering, aggressive behaviour and animals being kept in public spaces, with an associated rise in animal attacks on the public.

“Our communities have been patient and compassionate, but enough is enough,” he said.

The Mayor proposed to alter the council’s local laws to prohibit the keeping of animals in public spaces and to prohibit the use of caravans, camper trailers and other vehicles embellished for the purposes of camping in public spaces.

The council voted for the changes unanimously.

The owners of the vehicles will now have to move them to caravan parks.

The changes were proposed from a “mayoral minute”, or a proposal directly from the Mayor.

Councillor Adam Hain praised the Mayor’s action and said the prohibitions would be welcomed by the broader community.

“I think you will be well supported,” he said.

“I don’t want to go into the horror stories I’ve seen over the past months, but it is certainly timely.”

Mr Flannery said the city’s homelessness crisis had flowed in part from the state government’s failure to address the region’s larger housing problems.

“It has been through their inaction and underinvestment over past decades that our communities find themselves in the situation they are today.”

The City of Moreton Bay covers the towns and cities north of metropolitan Brisbane, including Caboolture, Redcliffe, North Lakes and Bribie Island.