Why are we seeing houses for over $1,000 a week in rent when, according to the Census, the median household income for locals is $1,345? What local can afford this? The rentals in the area could be capped to suit the income of the area.
All entire-home Airbnbs could be returned to the long-term rental market. Airbnb houses in residential areas would then be homes for families to live in, like they were built for. We are in a housing crisis and we need shelter for local families. We need homes to be full of locals, not tourists, so that we have the workers to run the town. Locals run the services, cafes and restaurants that serve the locals and visitors. Visitors could stay in licensed accommodation where there are teams of local staff benefitting from those jobs.
One third of Mullumbimby homes sat empty on Census night. People can’t afford the basic need of shelter and yet a few rich people own many homes in the area and leave them empty to benefit from negative gearing. They don’t care about the locals. With caps on home ownership we could drive down demand for investment properties, and bring down house prices.
Why are we allowing investors to buy up all the properties and rent them out for extortionate prices that locals can’t afford? It is ruining the town.
Did we not learn to share in preschool?
Ironically it was former Greens Mayor Simon Richardson who fully opened the floodgates in this town to the predations of global neoliberal tech platform giants.
A particularly galling legacy for locals who voted in good faith for greens principles.
Shame federally the greens keep opposing credible housing policies with their own fanciful housing ideology and vote with the noalition. To quote another unfortunate member of the senate” please explain”.
Rod, credible housing policies, if the ALP started out with them, then you might make a case for your moan and a whine.
Details matter, scratch below of the surface ‘headline’ for details, like with the HAFF.
The HAFF in initial form was a policy miss, an attempted ALP conjob, that the Greens stepped in tidy up and got an extra $’s3billions for housing as well.
Thank you G R E E N S!
Now its the ALP coming along with their ‘Build to Rent’ and ‘Help to Buy”.
Catchy headline names to be sure.
Again, scratch below the surface of the headline, look at the detail, the deficiencies and the objections to what is being initially proposed.
As long as Lab and LibNat keep ‘teaming up’ to maintain Negative Gearing and Capital Gains Tax concessions, we will know their true view about housing – an investment asset class, not a necessity of life.
$’sbillions that could be channelled into getting P u b l i c Housing going.
Sigh.