No easy fix for Shire’s ‘critical’ housing shortage
Douglas housing shortage
The acute housing shortage has been simmering in the background for Douglas Shire residents since the start of the pandemic and has again made its way into the headlines after Councillor Abigail Noli brought it up in Tuesday’s Council meeting labelling the situation, ‘critical’.
According to Cr Noli’s Notice of Motion, “housing concerns have escalated exponentially in the Douglas Shire in the past year due to an increased number of new residents arriving from outside of the Shire and buying properties, either as investment properties or as personal residences.”
Previous concerns have centred around housing affordability but according to Cr Noli’s notice of motion, that is not the case anymore.
“New trends show that availability as well as affordability are affecting the housing options for Shire residents. A majority of residents accessing community support to seek housing advocacy are coming from the private market and their crisis is due to their tenancies coming to an end and not being renewed either to increased rental rates, owner plans to renovate to prepare the house for market, or the home selling.”
Councillor Noli provided some statistics from Mossman Support Services around housing.
From 1 July until 14 October this year, 48 people sought assistance from MSS specifically and uniquely for housing issues. This doesn’t include people that counted housing as one of multiple issues. Of those 48 people:
- 23/48 have tenancy ending for one of the above listed reasons
- 15/48 are facing pre-existing homelessness (including couch surfing and living in overcrowded settings)
- 10/48 are seeking housing due to inappropriateness of current location
Manager of Port Douglas Community Service Network, Emma Travers, told Newsport that the Port Douglas Neighbourhood Centre had experienced similar results.
“A search of our database from 1 July until now indicates that of 109 people seeking support, 27 indicated housing support was the principal thing they needed assistance with,” Ms Travers said.
Housing was the principal thing these people identified as needing assistance with however, others may have nominated something else as the principal concern and may also have needed assistance with housing.
When asked about the formation of a working group, Ms Travers said she supports the idea.
“I think it could be a good idea to form a group, perhaps similar to the Transport Sub Committee which is part of the Community Agency Network. We’ve seen this idea trialled in other regions, the Gympie Homelessness Forum for example.”
Ms Travers acknowledged that there is no easy fix but said it’s essential for the long term health of the region.
“We know what will happen here, the borders are going to open and town will be busy again and there will be lots of jobs and no where for staff to live.”
Ms Travers is highlighting a concern for many in the community; with key state borders currently closed, what will happen if and when the borders open and the Shire receives another mass influx of migrants?
Homelessness
Jamie Stratford is a 33-year old single mother who moved to Queensland from Victoria 19 years ago. She has lived in the Douglas Shire for the last six years and five and a half years of that was in a house in Cassowary.
That lease ended on the 17th August this year and Jamie told Newsport that she and her eight-year-old son, Greg, very quickly found themselves without a place to live.
“We moved into a garage because at the time it was either that or a tent. Then we moved into a friend’s place for a few weeks while she was having surgery. Then she came home so we had to find another place,” Jamie said.
While this is happening, Jamie said she was searching for rentals without any luck.
“There wasn’t much around at all and it’s even harder with a dog. I’m happy to pay $400 per week – that’s half my earnings – but I have to be able to keep my dog."
Jamie works full time in Port Douglas and says even getting to an open house is a struggle before you add in the intense competition for rentals at the moment. Jamie and her son are now living in a share house owned and managed by a friend. She has been told she can stay for a while if she needs it.
“It’s fine for now, it’s right near Greg’s school. My son is playing with his friends more than he is worrying now so I’m very happy about that. Long-term though, we really need our space. It’s a share-house so there’s people that come and stay for a while and then leave again. The other night Greg had to sleep in my room because there was someone else staying where he normally sleeps.”
Newsport put the question to Jamie, why don't you leave and go somewhere else?
"We don't want to, this is our home and we absolutely love it here."
Jamie’s is not an isolated case. 19-year-old Shari Tupper lives with her boyfriend Nathan Deuble and their 4-month old daughter. Nathan works as a commercial fisherman on his family’s trout boat where he may be at sea for up to two weeks at a time.
Two days after signing a new lease in Cooya Beach, the couple were informed by the landlord that the place was for sale. The house was bought by new residents to the Shire who wish to move in immediately at the end of the lease.
“At this stage we haven’t found anywhere suitable. There’s a few furnished places around but they’re out of our price range plus then we have to pay to store our own stuff,” Shari told Newsport.
While Nathan grew up in the Douglas Shire and his parents have a house here, Shari is from the Gold Coast and said as things stand at the moment, she will be moving back to the south alone.
“Because Nathan works up here and is at sea for long periods, it makes sense for him to stay with his parents while he’s home for a few days but that’s not a long-term solution. I’ll head down south to stay with my parents until we can find something and then I'll come back up,” she said.
The couple are eventually planning to build in Cooya Beach however Shari said that still won't solve anything in the short term.
“We’ve enquired about building and with one of the new blocks that we’ve got our eye on and the waiting times for builders, it’s at least 18 months until the house would be ready to live in.”
A Complex issue
Back to Tuesday’s Council meeting and there’s one thing that all Councillors can agree on; there is no simple fix.
Councillor Lisa Scomazzon agreed with Noli on the concept of a group but also warned against false hope.
“If we get the right people in a group it might work but to provide accommodation we may have to build accommodation and I don’t know if that’s possible,” she said.
Douglas Shire Mayor, Michael Kerr, also warned about giving false hope and stressed that Council were already working on this.
“We’ve got staff working with other landholders that have approvals already to get them online, the second stage of Craiglie is coming up, we’ve got another stage in Cooya coming and we’re currently working with people in Mossman,” the mayor said.
The Mayor also highlighted the possibility of changes around Airbnb renting in the shire.
“There’s another council that’s in litigation with Airbnb so we’re watching that case very closely. We can then hopefully move forward and utilise these residential properties that are in areas that are not suitable for short term residential and bring them back into letting pools. That would be a quick fix that we can do straight away to get more residences available to rent.”
Kerr also took aim at the state planning scheme and said it’s another example of Douglas Shire’s hands being tied by State guidelines, particularly with subdividing.
“In Douglas Shire we have a lot of rural blocks that are covered by the State planning scheme. We’re pushing very heavily to get the plan updated, it’s been 10 years since it was looked at, it’s well overdue, we need to get the state plan reassessed,” Mayor Kerr told Fab FM’s Paul Makin outside the meeting.
As a final point, Kerr also highlighted that there are other factors that also need to be considered, it’s not as simple as building more houses.
“This is not a new thing and it’s something that needs to be fixed this time, but we need to be conscious that we need facilities, we need sewage, we need water to cater for all of this.”
Tuesday's Ordinary Council meeting can be viewed here.
The mayor's interview with Paul Makin can be heard here.