An inner city shelter for homeless people is about to close due to rising costs, forcing at least 65 vulnerable residents back onto the streets.
The one-time backpackers at Spring Hill started taking in men and women who were sleeping rough during COVID.
With its bunk bed lined walls and communal kitchen, the old backpackers might seem an unlikely home, but that's what it has become for musician Yoda Blues.
"This is my family," he said.
"We are here for one another, we have a community here.
"We did not end up here by chance, we ended up here because we turned left when we should have turned right and we own that. We have made mistakes.
"But this was our chance to get ahead. I have the three best room mates I could have, but it is all gone."
Manager Mark Farries said he had until next Friday to find $400,000 a year to keep the doors open, but lease negotiations had broken down.
Residents pay just $175 a week (if they can) for a bunk bed, power and meals via donations from Foodbank.
It offers the rare chance of a consistent home for people on the brink, and has become a central meeting point for support services that can help them get back on track.
Mr Farries said services like Drug Arm, a medical clinic, counselling and a job club that helps residents get back on their feet, are able to be accessed at the shelter.
Roughly 80 per cent of the tenants are men. Many of the remainder are women from violent backgrounds, looking for shelter.
"As the homeless are often socially ostracised, we've had ongoing social events for guests to participate in and encouraged a relaxed atmosphere to draw new arrivals into friendship groups," Mr Farries said.
"Further, a focus on encouraging guests to organise their personal affairs and property has been a real success in creating a sense of empowerment and dignity."
'This was our last chance'
Mr Farries said he had seen positive results since the business started operating as a shelter.
"It is not a solution to funnel people into parks and under bridges, but that is actually what is happening," he said.
"Our closure is a terrible loss in the war on homelessness in Brisbane."
A report released last month found the number of homeless people in Queensland had risen by 22 per cent in five years — almost triple the increase nationally.
Deryk Murphy, 53, ended up on the streets after a relationship breakdown.
He works odd jobs as a labourer but could never afford market rent.
"I say every person is one step away from homelessness, lose your job, lose your house — you have nowhere else to go," he said.
"I am shattered, this was our last chance."
Recovering drug addict Lee Wilson, 49, called on Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to provide some support.
"She has a lot of stuff on her plate but she should think long and hard about us because we have nowhere else to go. If she keeps this place open a little bit longer we will have time to get out of here", he said.
"We will go, but just giving us some places to go to would help."
'This was preventable'
Micah Projects CEO Karyn Walsh said the homeless crisis was the worst she had seen in 30 years of working in the welfare sector.
"We have not had the same crisis we have now with families and children," she said.
"I felt a bit sick in the stomach when I heard about this closure, and there are potentially others, we are talking about another 100 people homeless if that eventuates.
"People are living in such despair and uncertainty every day and it is just really hard to know what to do to break that.
"I know we have to make sure we build or buy social housing quicker because the market is not going to solve the problem.
"We have to just stop trapping people in crisis, tents on the street, it is taking its toll on people and we know people have died.
"Hopefully we can get some sort of coordinated response to avoid a crisis next Friday."
University of Queensland student counsellor Mina Lib provides mental health support to the tenants and said she had co-ordinated people to volunteer tents to hand out on eviction day.
"This is just heartbreaking I spend my morning helping people here and go home and cry," she said.
"This housing crisis is man made, it is a symptom of a sick society and was preventable.
"People continuing to suffer as others make money.
"This was the last option and this has been pulled out from under them with 10 days notice."
The property owner of the backpacker hostel declined to comment on the situation.
In the hope of a reprieve Mr Farries has sent a letter to Housing Minister Leanne Enoch.
"We have been working in the support area of our community and have been part of a last line of defence against homelessness for a section of the community that frankly, aren't wanted by most landlords," he wrote.
"I am providing the details above, so you may know the scale of the disaster that will unfold for this group of people if no special provision is made for them by the 28th of this month.
"I thank you in advance for any action you might take to aid this vulnerable group's circumstance and may I invite you to come and see this valuable resource before it is lost."
Government weighs in
A spokesperson from the Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy said the government has been made aware of a potential closure.
"While Big Bird Backpackers is a privately-funded backpacker accommodation provider, we will continue to monitor the situation and stand ready to provide assistance," the spokesperson said.
"In the Brisbane local government area, the department provides funding to 31 non-government organisations to deliver specialist homelessness services.
"This includes immediate supported accommodation and other services to support people who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of becoming homelessness.
"Anyone who needs housing assistance can contact the Fortitude Valley Housing Service Centre on (07) 3034 6500 during business hours or the 24/7 Homeless Hotline on 1800 474 753."
