Housing hotline launched for flood victims to find temporary accommodation

It’s encouraging and heart-warming to see so many people offering to help the many families affected by the Queensland floods. The more people that get involved the better.

And news just in that a new 1300 hotline has been launched to assist flood victims to find temporary accommodation for up to 2 months.

The number is 1300 998 603.

As 30,000 people return to flood affected homes, the hotline offers housing and accommodation options that have been donated by thousands of Australians online using a number of web services, as well as donations from hotels and motels.

Government emergency housing officials have stated that the majority of Queenslanders affected by the floods have found refuge in the houses of friends and relatives while around 1,000 people remain in emergency shelters. People from both these categories are expected to need longer-term accommodation options while houses are rebuilt or refurbished.

Since the Queensland floods began, Australians have been making generous offers of free accommodation on a number of websites. As flood victims return home to the news that it may be weeks or months to get their houses back to a habitable state, the service aims to match them with donated holiday homes, granny flats or spare rooms.

The hotline makes it easy for people without internet access to quickly find temporary accommodation which has been offered by Australians on the websites www.qldfloods.org/open-beds, www.floodaid.com.au, and www.flatmates.com.au/floods.

The service will be advertised inside Disaster Relief Centres and on radio stations throughout Queensland and northern New South Wales.

A similar service was provided after Hurricane Katrina by US organisation MoveOn,and used by 30,000 American families to find donated temporary housing.

The service is being coordinated by GetUp and is the result of donations of call centres, phone services, computer programming services and hotel rooms/accommodation from the Finance Sector Union, the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union, iPrimus, Thoughtworks and a number of major Australian accommodation businesses who will be announced in the coming days.