Expanded resilient grants program helps more Queensland households

More Queenslanders affected by severe flooding over the past two disaster seasons can now access resilience funding to better protect their homes against future flood events.

An expansion of the Stronger Homes Grant program means grants up to $10,000 are now available in another seven disaster hit local government areas, including Barcoo, Bulloo, Bundaberg, Isaac, Rockhampton, Quilpie and Western Downs.

It takes the total number of LGAs eligible under the initiative to 47, and now covers three of the largest disaster events Queensland has experienced in the past 18 months.

This includes this year's Queensland Monsoon Trough, Cyclone Koji, Cyclone Narelle and Severe Weather event that impacted the state from Christmas to April, and last year's Western Queensland Surface Trough and North and Far North Tropical Low disasters.

The Stronger Homes Grant was first established in February 2025 following the north and Far North Queensland floods that devasted the region, particularly communities like Townsville, Ingham, Cardwell, Tully, Mission Beach and Innisfail.

Funding for the program is provided by the Australian and Queensland Governments under the joint Commonwealth-state Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).

The grants have been developed to help address property-level flood risk in regional and rural areas, providing much-needed funds to residents at risk of severe and repeated flooding.

Eligible households can use the grants to carry out a range of resilient upgrades to their home, for example raising electrical switchboards, data and electrical points, hot water systems and air conditioner units above the flood level, or installing flood-resistant flooring and wall linings. 

With these types of resilient measures in place throughout a property, people will be able to recover faster and get back into their homes sooner following a flood event, reducing disaster impacts and associated costs.

The program has also proven to boost regional economies, with more than 80 per cent of the resilience improvements delivered by local contractors since the program began.

Stronger Homes Grant applications are open till 30 November 2026, with all works to be completed and invoices finalised by 30 June 2027.

For the full list of eligible LGAs and resilience works covered, and to apply, visit www.qld.gov.au/strongerhomesgrant.