When it comes to the holiday letting problem in the Byron Shire it’s hard to put it into a few paragraphs, not to mention the flood impact on availability of homes.
As locals we’ve had to move to the Tweed Shire. When the pandemic hit, homes in Mullum doubled in price and if you didn’t own your home then, it became impossible. As locals – business owners, shop workers – we don’t have the income to pay a million-dollar mortgage. We don’t have the income to pay $1,000 a week in rent for a basic home, and we don’t have the adrenal strength to rent a flooded dwelling for a bit cheaper.
A local realtor said they get daily calls from investors with some asking how many homes they can buy for their six million dollars. The system allows it, and they don’t know or care that these homes are desperately needed as shelter for locals.
Town has been struggling since the flood. Business is down 30–40 per cent for our computer shop and for the clothes shop I work in. Tourism dollars? They don’t seem to be benefitting anyone but the people raking in the rent from their Airbnbs. Many local shops struggle to find staff. Half the time they’re not able to open to make ‘tourism dollars’.
What about ‘local dollars’? The ones that keep essential businesses afloat? These are the dollars that keep small towns alive. But there are hardly any locals anymore. Too many houses are being saved as holiday homes so there are no homes for locals to live in.
With fewer homes available, rents become ridiculously expensive. When homes are so expensive that people on minimum wage can’t afford to live in the area, you have no staff living in the area to hire, or local families for that matter.
Allowing Airbnb to destroy a community all because of these illusive ‘tourism dollars’ is a bit like destroying a natural habitat to mine it and say you’re ‘creating jobs’. It’s a very short-sighted view that only benefits a handful of people. It damages the lives of many more.
It’s nonsensical that houses can be used as a commodity to enrich those who are wealthy enough to not need them for what they are intended as – shelter. On the human hierarchy of needs, shelter is right at the base, along with food. It’s not a luxury. Without shelter we can’t survive. And yet, here we are, collecting properties like it’s a game of Monopoly.
Thank goodness we have a determined Council that has a heart and common sense. Bring on this 60-day holiday letting cap.
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