This Friday, 8 May, Murray Cox and Professor Nicole Gurran will be discussing ‘Inside Airbnb: International evidence on short-term rentals, housing markets and regulation’...

A report stating that the 60-day cap for non-hosted short term rental accommodation (STRA) in Byron Shire is ‘ineffective’ has been roundly criticised by the Byron Shire mayor, Victims of Holiday Letting (VOHL), and local STRA researcher, Dr Sabine Muschter, who was part of the research team looking at Airbnb impacts on small communities.

Like thousands of others, I happily wandered the packed streets of Lennox a couple of Saturdays back, during the Love Lennox festival. But does Lennox Head really want to get into bed with Airbnb?

Music journalist, DJ and ABC broadcaster, Sarah Howells, has had to swallow a bitter Bluesfest pill after an AirBnB host reneged on an agreement for Easter accommodation.

With the new cap on unhosted short-term rental accommodation (STRA) of 60 days a year now in place for Byron Shire, Council staff say they ‘will now spend the next several months focusing on consolidating data on unhosted properties’. 

The last Ballina Council meeting saw a straightforward request from staff for more information about the short term rental accommodation situation in the shire (as it relates to NSW government policy) turn into an elaborate saga.

Booking agency Stayz says Byron Shire Council’s 60-day cap for short-term rental accommodation will only limit ‘accommodation options for tourists and income for mum and dad retirees’.

The crisis of unaffordable and insecure rentals here is not news, but right now there’s a real opportunity to help fix it. 

What an outcome on holiday letting – it’s a bit like offering $1,000 for a horse and getting it for $500. Yeeha! Happy as I am about the headline outcome, Recommendation 4 by the IPC commissioners suggests opening up more land – the Ballina-isation of Byron.

The much anticipated report by the NSW Independent Planning Commission (IPC) into Council’s planning proposal around holiday letting was released last week, with commissioners recommending a 60-day yearly cap on non-hosted holiday letting across the Shire, instead of Council’s 90-day proposal.