Could your house be someone's home?

It’s no secret that the rental market in Ballina Shire is extremely tight. A search of the website rent.com.au for June 2022 found 45 properties available for long-term rental within the Ballina postcode, 11 in Lennox Head, and 17 in the Alstonville postcode. This availability represents only 0.3% of the shire’s total dwelling stock.

Covid-migration to regional areas and housing price increases had already led to historically low vacancy rates; then the floods inundated more than 600 businesses and homes across the shire, causing a critical housing shortage. Short-term rental accommodation has increased significantly in the past five to six years, particularly in coastal areas like ours. ‘Home-sharing’ platforms have made it easier for homeowners to generate income through short-term holiday letting. But this also contributes to the limited availability of long-term, secure rental accommodation for residents and people seeking to relocate here for work. Local businesses struggle to recruit and retain staff due to the lack of affordable rental accommodation.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Ballina Shire Council recently resolved to undertake a 12-month information campaign to raise awareness about the need for more longterm rentals and the benefits this would bring to the community. We are also writing to property owners with non-Ballina Shire mailing addresses and owners with property available for short-term holiday accommodation registered on the NSW Planning Portal, to encourage them to convert their properties to long-term rentals. This approach has been adopted in other council areas, such as Eurobodalla Shire Council, where a similar response following the 2019/20 bushfires resulted in 80 homes being placed on the local rental market.

Council will also approach the Northern Rivers Joint Organisation of Councils to seek support for an information campaign highlighting the need for more long-term rentals across the entire Far North Coast. We can all play a role in overcoming the housing shortage in our region, and if you have a property that is sitting vacant, perhaps you could consider making it available for long-term rental. . The website, insideairbnb.com provides worldwide short-term rental accommodation (STRA) data from the Airbnb platform. The most recent data from March 2022 showed a total of 658 properties on the Airbnb platform available for short-term holiday letting. Of these, 608 properties were listed as entire homes or apartments (as opposed to single rooms). Based on the 2021 Census data for the total number of dwellings in Ballina Shire (19,700 private dwellings), this equates to approximately 3.4% of the total housing stock. These figures do not include any STRA listed on platforms other than Airbnb. Also, the Inside Airbnb website cannot provide data on available homes/apartments when the permanent occupants are away from the premises, as opposed to a home exclusively available for STRA with no permanent residents.

Right now, every available property can make a difference to our community.