I write as a local professional in their late 30s who is virtually completely priced-out of Mullumbimby, and attempting to save for a home anywhere in the Northern Rivers, where I have resided for the last three years.
I welcome The Nest project. For people in our age group, young workers, teachers, nurses, hospitality staff, support workers and creatives, this kind of housing isn’t just desirable – it’s essential.
We hear a lot from the loudest voices opposing this kind of development: critiques about parking, density, aesthetics.
But let’s be honest: much of this resistance comes from people who already own property here and benefited from buying before the market tripled in price.
Opposition to new homes in a housing crisis is, effectively, cutting the cord on a parachute and hoping we all land softly.
Across Australia, rental costs have skyrocketed.
A recent ‘Everybody’s Home’ report found a single person now needs an income of around $130,000 a year just to rent a typical unit without crippling cost pressures – far above average salaries, and unaffordable for the majority of working Australians.
In many regions, people on a median wage now spend more than half their income on rent.
We’re living in a genuine housing crisis; rental listings have collapsed to their lowest affordability levels on record, and young people are being squeezed out of living near where they work.
For example, I have a trade certification, a university degree and I drive 45 minutes to Tweed for reasonable work – to pay for ‘surviving’ in 2026 with insane costs of living.
Please don’t be so privileged, and perhaps look at the big picture for the next generations, who are attempting to make a living in the area without the ‘handouts’.
The Nest proposes co-living apartments designed to offer secure, manageable housing for locals – not backpackers or transient visitors, but people committed to this community. That’s the kind of project Mullum desperately needs if we want a balanced, mixed-age community rather than a place only accessible to those with generational wealth or fortunate timing.
So I ask respectfully: how privileged must one be to oppose housing projects in the middle of a cost-of-living and rental emergency? We all benefit when a town is diverse in age, income and occupation. Excluding young people from living here isn’t preservation – it’s exclusion.
Let’s get behind solutions that actually work, rather than just preserving the view for a few.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
