PAT Conaghan, the Member for Cowper, has suggested that looking to Canada might offer ideas to mitigate the housing crisis being experienced across the Mid North Coast.

He said that the same shortages in supply and surging demands that are being felt on the Coffs Coast are also felt across the country and the world.

Mr Conaghan acknowledged that, based on percentage increases in rents and property values compared to metropolitan counterparts, it is clear that regions such as the Mid North Coast are experiencing housing stress more than most areas.

He pointed to recent initiatives taken by the Canadian Government as it seeks to stem some of the demand pressures currently being experienced in their country, and said Australia should strongly consider these.

For example, Canada has recently banned foreign investors purchasing residential property and Mr Conaghan said he would like to take their measures a few steps further.

He suggested that Australia should look at a seven-year trial, so that the measure can be a better driver of market change.

Although the Ottawa region has stipulated that ‘summer cottages’ be exempt, because a large proportion of regional coastal property would fall within that category, and the Mid North Coast is experiencing very significant price increases and shortages, Mr Conaghan believes this would not be an acceptable exemption.

“Just as we experience in Cowper, areas of Toronto have properties that are either under-tenanted or remain empty for long periods of time so that owners can avoid certain taxes and others look to keep properties available for more lucrative short term holiday periods only,” Mr Conaghan said.

“This is not a situation that their surging population figures can support, and neither can we.”

Toronto introduced a tax of one percent of the total value of the home per year to combat this.

To avoid the tax, the property must be tenanted for a certain number of weeks per year.

Mr Conaghan said this an appropriate measure in this region given the large number of holiday and Airbnb rentals.

“Clearly these initiatives are only small steps to improve the broader picture, and an increase in housing development projects and a removal of layers of red and green tape at all levels of Government need to occur simultaneously, but we must be looking at every possible piece of legislation to make inroads into abating our current crisis,” Mr Conaghan said.

“We need swift, determined and tangible initiatives such as these now, and I will be pushing the new Government to fast track measures like this as soon as we resume sittings in Canberra.”

By Andrew VIVIAN