LOCAL ISSUES

over 500,000 by 2041 and Council anticipates needing 90,000 more dwellings by then. Just over half of new residents are expected to choose to live in Kawana, Caloundra South, Sippy Downs, Palmview and Beerwah East.

Housing shortfall

Sunshine Coast housing supply is a core issue –so what is happening at local council level?

The shortage of housing and rising cost of rental accommodation on the Sunshine Coast are affecting worker availability and pushing lowincome renters out of the Noosa Council and SCC areas.

Responding to these issues is complex and requires policy fixes across all levels of government. In the Noosa region 5,200 selfcontained dwellings are used for short-term visitor accommodation. Mayor Clare Stewart recently wrote to owners of short-term rental and vacant properties asking them to consider placing their properties on the long-term market.

Noosa Council is looking at partnerships with developers and community housing projects to make use of under-utilised council land. Talks with churches and charities to provide more social housing options are part of the Noosa Housing Strategy endorsed by council in November 2022. Visit: noosa.qld.gov.au/ housing-strategies.

SCC's Environment and Livability Strategy is addressing how to meet future housing needs. The Sunshine Coast population will grow to

Council’s view is that the current mix of housing matches neither household types seeking accommodation nor the needs of an ageing population. In Eumundi dwellings are expected to grow from 1,789 in 2021 to 2,940 in 2041. Of those the majority are detached homes however attached dwellings are projected to grow significantly from 218 in 2021 to 886 in 2041. Visit: tinyurl.com/msac7car.

Pavilion Off-Grid Homes

SCC's recent change to building codes permit granny flats to be used as dwellings for permanent rentals. Eumundi designer and builder Anthony Wynne-Hoelscher from Pavilion Off-Grid Homes has designed a range of codecompliant small homes/granny flats and micro homes.

The new range of relocatable micro homes provide a dignified lifestyle alternative to tiny homes, which are relocatable small dwellings usually on wheels and the size of a caravan. Tiny homes are often not code-compliant and illegal to rent-out.

All Pavilion Off-Grid Homes can be connected to the grid but have been designed to be fully independent with built-in solar capture, battery, back-up generator, rainwater harvest, grey water management and even an incinerating toilet. They are sustainably built with passive climate management integral to each design for comfort, cost savings and happy, healthy hinterland living. Information visit: pavilionoffgridhomes. com.au.

The cost of addiction

A joint report released in November 2022 between professional services firm KPMG and Rethink Addiction has revealed the cost of addiction in Australia was an estimated $80.3 billion in 2021. In addition to this the value of lost life was reported at a staggering $173.8 billion. With one in four Australians struggling with alcohol, other drugs, or gambling in their lifetime and one in 10 currently smoking tobacco daily, it means Australia has one of the highestrated addiction health burdens in the world.

To put it in perspective, the cost to the economy due to addiction is similar to the government’s largest spending program JobKeeper which cost $90 billion.

• Tobacco was the highest at 44% or $35.8 billion

• Alcohol was second highest at 28% or $22.6 billion

• Prescription and illicit drugs recorded 16% or $12.9 billion

• Gambling was 13% or $10.7 billion.

Rethink Addiction campaign spokesperson, Professor Dan Lubman said, “We know that for every dollar spent on addiction treatment we save up to $7 and that for every dollar spent on harm reduction we save up to $27. Yet we aren’t investing in treatment and harm reduction anywhere near as much as we should”.

Service gaps impact isolated rural and regional communities the hardest. Investing in treatment alone however is not enough to reduce the harm caused by addiction. Efforts to improve prevention, early intervention and harm reduction have significant social, health and economic benefits.

To ensure real change, the stigma associated with addiction must also be addressed to promote help-seeking and ensure treatment and responses to addiction are effective. The effects of stigma are damaging and can delay help-seeking by years and even decades. In Australia the median time to first treat someone experiencing an addiction to alcohol is 18 years.

Information: rethinkaddiction.org.au.

Tania Watson

Men’s health

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Accident clinic

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Practice (Creative Writing) from USC and a MA in Behavioural Psychology from Macquarie University. Black Randall is available at the launch, bookshops and at: jobraithwaite.com.

au. Eileen Walder