from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-10/hope-new-airbnb-regulations-ease-rental-market/103087684
Key points:
A Dunsborough mother became homeless during COVID when Airbnbs spread in her hometown
The WA government is offering $10,000 to Airbnb owners who rent their properties long-term
REIWA says the incentive probably won't impact high demand holiday areas
As the popularity for landlords to morph rentals into Airbnbs grew in Beck's coastal hometown, the hope in providing her daughter with a stable home diminished.
Housing shortages and high rents have been an issue in the tourist town of Dunsborough in Western Australia's South West for many years, but Beck said the situation worsened during the pandemic.
"Once COVID hit, landlords began removing their homes from the long-term rental market and placing them in short-stay accommodation, mostly Airbnb," Beck said.
"That had a direct impact on myself and my family as I wasn't able to secure a rental for a year.
"The housing situation in Dunsborough made me homeless which is something I thought I would never, ever say."
Beck, who does not want her last name published, said she had to leave a relationship quickly back in 2020 and was left with no option but to live in her parent's spare bedroom with her young daughter.
She said if short-stay accommodation like Airbnb had not eaten up all the available and affordable rentals in town it would have been easier to find a home for her and her daughter.
"Not being able to have certainty for where you're going to raise your child is heartbreaking. It is stressful and it leads to trauma over the long term," she said...............
Government steps in
In an effort to alleviate some of the housing pressures, the WA government will give Airbnb owners $10,000 if they put their property on the long-term rental market.
In the South West landlords will need to rent their property for $650 or less a week. In Perth the cap will be $800.
Real Estate Institute of WA president Joe White, who also lives in Dunsborough, said while the incentive might sway some people to rent out their place, others will take more convincing.
"In the high-demand holiday areas I tend to think that will probably not have an impact. Owners are going to have to cancel Christmas and holiday bookings," Mr White said.
"Where I think it will have a positive impact is in the more residential areas, in places like Dunsborough Lakes, where the Airbnbs are more marginal and where someone is thinking about moving it over [from rental to short-stay accommodation]."
Read the full article at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-10/hope-new-airbnb-regulations-ease-rental-market/103087684
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