Joan Humphries, pictured with son Carl and partner Craig, is one of the growing number of Byron workers unable to find secure and affordable housing. Photo Jeff Dawson

Dire shortage of secure and affordable accommodation for workers

New figures show the cost of Byron rents jumping almost 100 per cent in a decade, making the town increasingly unaffordable for its own part-time and casual workforce.

Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment was $125 in 2002, but is $230 today, while a three-bedroom rental has blown out from $250 to $420 a week.

Those exorbitant rents now match or even exceed Sydney’s, yet incomes here are on average only one half to two-thirds of what people earn in the cities. 

The latest available census data show that for tenants in the Byron area, 75 per cent of households on low and moderate incomes are in ‘housing stress’, which is defined as spending at least one-third of your income on housing costs. This year’s census figures are likely to paint an even bleaker picture.

While the north coast’s housing crisis is not a new problem, experts argue that the ‘grossly excessive’ housing costs are increasingly affecting the ability of working people to find stable and affordable homes.

Byron pet store worker and mother Joan Humphries is one of the many people being pushed to the edge by the double whammy of insecure and unaffordable housing. For the second time in just two months, Joan is being forced to leave what she thought was long-term rental accommodation in Ocean Shores, after one owner decided to move back in, and then a second owner announced he was selling the house that Joan’s family had only just moved into.

On top of outstanding medical bills, credit card debts, and the myriad expenses of raising children, the costs of moving again and the prospect of even higher rents are causing a sense of desperation. ‘We’re just going downhill,’ Joan told The Echo this week. ‘Stress-wise, I don’t know how much more I can cope with.’
Long-time Byron resident and single dad Mychal Kordas is one of those whose family has been forced out of the area by soaring rents.

Speaking to The Echo from his new home in Hervey Bay in Queensland, Mychal said he’d felt an attitude from some in Byron that ‘if you can’t afford to live here, just go.’

Chair of the National Affordable Housing Summit, Professor Julian Disney, says the shortage of affordable housing is ‘deep and significant problem’ in Australia.
He told The Echo that Byron has become like a small number of other towns, including Noosa and high-growth mining centres, where workers can’t afford to live where they work.

A former head of the Australian Council of Social Services and one of the nation’s most respected voices on the affordability crisis, Professor Disney says there is much that local councils can do, from making land available to creating new partnerships which can take advantage of federal subsidies to build more affordable housing. 

Affordable housing forum March 16

Over the next few months The Echo will be hosting a series of forums on issues affecting Byron Shire.

The first of these forums is on affordable housing and will be on March 16 at the Byron Bay Community Centre. Keynote speaker is Professor Julian Disney, chair of the National Affordable Housing Summit, and will be chaired by The Echo’s Ray Moynihan, author and former 7.30 Report journalist.

The second forum planned will examine youth issues, and will be on April 20, chaired by Mandy Nolan.