Homeless people say they're being turfed out of park to make way for festival

A group of homeless people are up in arms, saying they're being turfed out of a Queensland park to make way for a festival.

Sheri Fisk has been without a place to call home since last year. She and her partner, who said finding a rental was impossible, now call a tent at Musgrave Park in South Brisbane their home.

"It's been pretty rough," Fisk told A Current Affair.

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Luke Clements is two tents up from Fisk. He moved to the park after getting out of jail.

But according to authorities, he and others living in the park will soon need to leave before a local festival moves in next weekend.

"There's just nowhere to go," Clements said.

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After three months in the park, he said he'd love a place to call his own before winter but he just didn't have the funds.

"Rent is normally like 60 per cent of your wages and I'm only on JobSeeker … I only get like $400 a fortnight," he said.

Musgrave Park is home to the Paniyiri Greek Festival, which takes over the entire park for a full weekend.

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There's now a clash between the residents living at the park and the festival that wants to move in.

Darren Stanley has also been living in the park for three months along with his son.

He said despite being on the disability support payment, he's not eligible for social housing.

The department of housing has set up in the park for the past week to help shift people but Stanley said it's not a long-term fix.

"It's just a temporary solution for a bigger problem," he said.

This week a Logan City Council worker was seen dropping off three homeless people to the park from an area 45 minutes away.

Logan City Council Mayor Darren Power took to the radio to defend the move.

"He's … moved them because they wanted to go there, not because they didn't want to go there," Power said about the council worker.

"They wanted to go there so he's taken them there; he's risked his job."

Karyn Walsh, who is the CEO of not-for-profit group Micah Projects, said they "don't want people dropped off at parks".

"We'd prefer that people are dropped to services, or services are asked to go and see them," she said.

"Logan doesn't have an outreach service, which means the park rangers were probably trying to help out."

Micah Projects' Street to Home team has teamed up with the housing department to help relocate people before the festival.

Walsh said more than 60 people had already been moved from Musgrave Park in the past few days.

"Twenty-nine have gone to permanent housing and about 33 have gone to emergency housing," Walsh said.

"Usually they can stay there until there's a pathway to somewhere else."

While they're hopeful of moving everyone, it's a constant battle.

"We don't know how many keep, how many new people are going to come," Walsh said.

"There's a lot of activity down there so we're just going to keep trying every day to work with people about what their needs are."

A spokesperson for the Paniyiri Greek Festival told A Current Affair it already supports the city's vulnerable through various programs and they won't be moving anyone who wants to stay.

They said the festival boundaries will work with residents and they'll get free festival access so the whole community is included.

Brisbane City Council Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner statement

"We have been assured by Logan City Council this will not happen again.

It demonstrates the extent of the current homelessness scourge and shows yet again why the State and Federal governments must stop making excuses and open the idle Pinkenba Quarantine Facility as crisis accommodation."