The Government’s discussion paper explores the effectiveness of the current planning and regulatory framework for short-term rental accommodation in NSW, while exploring potential policy options to encourage property investors to make homes available for long-term rental accommodation.

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The discussion paper also provides the opportunity for community members and groups to provide feedback.

BPW Coffs Coast has been working to “support, encourage and empower women” in the region for more than 50 years.

Research from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute indicates that women, particularly older women, are being disproportionately impacted by Australia’s growing housing crisis.

“Tourist areas such as the Coffs Coast are particularly vulnerable to rental stress owing to the attraction for users and home owners alike to short term rental accommodation,” BPW Coffs Coast President Deborah Petlueng said.

The short-term rental market has become a mega-industry in recent years, with some investors and developers using short term rental accommodation (STRA) platforms to significantly increase their profits, in many cases to the detriment of long-term rentals.

Short-term letting sites like Airbnb were originally designed to offer rooms in people’s homes to tourists and travellers, however their listings have evolved to include tens of thousands of entire houses and apartments, many of which were previously available for long-term rental.

“The growth of the STRA market in the Coffs Coast area is significant and is affecting the availability of long term rentals to women and families,” Deborah said.

“We are very concerned at the move to full-time letting of whole houses/apartments that were previously on the long term rental market and not traditionally suitable for holiday-lets.”

The BPW Coffs Coast submission to the discussion paper will suggest:

– Ensuring hosts adhere to local regulations, in particular with regards to the number of room nights.

– Limiting the practice of listing dwellings all year round which are only generally utilised during holiday periods and vacant the rest of the year.

– Cracking down on ‘mega-hosts’ managing dozens of STRA properties.

– Council adopting a system of approving properties for the short-term rental market. Under this system, smaller and older one and two bedroom flats that are affordable homes for women wouldn’t be approved as short-term rentals.

“We have previously sent a submission to the Senate’s rental enquiry and to the City of Coffs Harbour in regard to its long term housing strategy,” Deborah said.

By Mary KEILY