Port Douglas Housing Crisis: Zero Vacancy Rate. What’s the problem?
Over the next month Newsport will be exploring the housing crisis. We need your help searching for solutions.
A qualified dentist, Sophia, paid around $240 per week for a long-term unpowered tent site in a caravan park, while Daniel, a Biologist, couch-surfs.
It’s no wonder people are asking if anyone is immune from the region’s housing emergency. What is the impact on people and businesses, and what can be done?
How bad is our crisis?
Vacancy rates are a key housing market indicator, with 3% considered a balance between demand and supply. Any figure below 3% indicates more people are looking for accommodation than there are apartments for lease.
In June 2019 Port Douglas had a vacancy rate of 3.4%. In June 2022 our vacancy rate was zero. Yes, ‘Zero’!
Once a week Tenants Queensland provide advice at the Mossman Neighbourhood Centre, and the emotional cost of housing insecurity is evident.
“It’s incredibly hard for people looking for accommodation. People can feel angry, frustrated and in despair. Then there is grief after your life is uprooted,” Jenny Brown, Community Education, Tenants Queensland said.
Facing eviction
“Port Douglas is heading for a crisis in the next twelve months,” Gordon, a single parent, said. After 11 years of living in his apartment, and now paying $350 p.w. he’s been asked to leave. “It’s just so frustrating. My real estate has tried to help but there are no rentals on the market.”
After searching in Port Douglas, he’s found nothing that's affordable. “A unit in my complex is now $620 per week (p.w.) which is beyond my budget.”
Now Gordon’s looking to move to Cooya Beach to pay around $490 p.w. for a house. Trouble is, it adds 2 hours a day driving to and from work and $100 more in petrol.
“It’s scary. When the day comes that I have to leave, I’ll claim squatters' rights. I can’t head off with my daughter in the car with nowhere to go.”
Living in a tent for $240 p.w.
Sophia arrived in Port Douglas in 2021 with her baby and partner. As a dentist qualified in Chile, she still couldn’t find an apartment. There was no other choice but to pay around $240 p.w. for a long-term lease on an unpowered tent site in a caravan park.
Sophia thought her problems were over last December when she found a room in a three-bedroom apartment sharing with two friends.
“Last week, the real estate agent gave us four weeks' notice to leave due to a change in the new lease agreement which allows just two people to live in the apartment. We have no option but to live in a tent again”.
Too many are living in cars
Michelle estimates that 70 people are currently living in cars around Four Mile Beach and various parks.
Since February her van has been her home. Thankfully she’s joined a tight-knit community of people living in cars who keep each other safe.
“I work 55 hours per week in hospitality, but this is my best option. Still, I risk a Council fine of around $287 for illegal camping.”
There’s a vulnerability in tenancy
Daniel, a Biologist and internationally recognised Cinematographer has been couch-surfing for the past two months. “My apartment was flooded, and I asked the owner to fix the damage. They didn’t and soon after evicted me.”
Being active on the market has got him nowhere. “I’ve tried to arrange inspections, but agents expect people to put in an application sight unseen. I’m not prepared to do that.”
He’s ‘pissed off’ yet considers himself lucky. He has a good friend to stay with and no dependents. Others, he says, aren’t so lucky.
More information:
Tenants Queensland: https://tenantsqld.org.au/
To view our vacancy rates: https://sqmresearch.com.au/graph_vacancy.php?postcode=4877&t=1http