THE idea of more than 11,000 Hunter homes spending most of the year vacant is hard to fathom as the country grapples with a housing crisis years in the making. But it is precisely the number of short-term rentals according to website Home to Go, while AirDNA says more than half of the 4957 it has listed are occupied fewer than 90 days annually.
Meanwhile Mission Australia's housing support clients sleeping in improvised homes, tents or on the streets rose 103 per cent between 2020 and 2022. Homelessness NSW's chief executive Trina Jones has called for legislation restricting holiday rentals to a principal place of residence for a maximum of 90 days. According to the numbers above, it seems that would do little to limit existing holiday rental operations.
"What we don't want to see is curated AirBnB homes sat empty in the off-season while teachers and apprentices and older women sleep in their cars ont he streets outside," Ms Jones told the Newcastle Herald.
The proposal is unlikely to find critics among more traditional accommodation providers, who have previously argued they have lost business to the disruption of the digital players that introduced such competition with less legislative responsibility.
Critics have long accused governments of negligence in allowing negative gearing to continue, offering property owners an incentive to own more than their own home. It is difficult to argue the possibility of holiday rentals is much different in a market where supply is falling far short of demand. Worse, it is bringing another segment into the market to compete with those simply looking for a place to live that they can afford.
Anyone who has enjoyed a stay at a short-term rental knows there are definite benefits to the system, as do those who have collected the fees associated with those stays. But when more people are fighting to simply put a roof over their heads, can we afford to prioritise holidaymakers over those who live and work in the Hunter?
AirBnB and other similar operations landed in a bid to disrupt an existing industry, and found significant success doing so. Such operators often race ahead of legislation and other frameworks simply by the nature of their innovation. Now, though, the stakes are higher than ever. It is incumbent upon those in power to find an efficient way to open up housing supply to those in need. The nights are getting colder quickly, and too many are already exposed to their chill.
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