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Shelter SA report recommends vacant Airbnbs and unused private homes should help house Adelaide’s homeless

Empty Airbnb and rental property in Adelaide’s CBD have enough space to house the city’s rough sleepers, a new report has found.

There are enough empty Airbnb and residential properties in the Adelaide CBD to house the city’s rough sleepers, a report by the state’s peak housing body has found.

Unlocking these vacant beds would not only reduce homelessness in the city but dampen rent prices currently skyrocketing across greater Adelaide, blocking hundreds from the private market, says the “Empty Homes” report to be released by Shelter SA on Monday.

The report has identified 972 vacant properties in the inner city suitable for short to long term accommodation by analysing data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Airbnb and water usage data from 2016 to 2020.

Backpack Oz co-owner Sam Twelftree in his empty 90-bed property on Wakefield street in the city – empty for seven months due to Covid’s travel restrictions. Picture Mark Brake
Backpack Oz co-owner Sam Twelftree in his empty 90-bed property on Wakefield street in the city – empty for seven months due to Covid’s travel restrictions. Picture Mark Brake

More than a third of the properties identified suitable for social housing in the report were Airbnb listings vacant for more than six months from October 2019 to 2020

Other properties included inner-city houses, units and apartments emptied by residents holidaying or working inter or intrastate, or vacated by investors renovating or waiting for a sale, or empty rentals in between tenants.

“If activated, vacant and under-utilised residential properties could be used to reduce the number of households living with housing stress, experiencing homelessness and living in unsafe or unsuitable accommodation,” says the report.

Online lodging service Airbnb listings accounted for more than a third of the empty properties in Adelaide’s inner city that were identified suitable for social housing in the Shelter SA report. Photo: Lionel Bonaventure/ AFP.
Online lodging service Airbnb listings accounted for more than a third of the empty properties in Adelaide’s inner city that were identified suitable for social housing in the Shelter SA report. Photo: Lionel Bonaventure/ AFP.

Shelter SA is now calling on state and local governments to unlock empty residential properties through legislation, such as a vacancy tax; purchasing suitable vacant properties for social housing; and providing greater incentives – like rental subsidies – to owners of empty residential properties.

There are currently 206 people sleeping rough, couch surfing or in emergency shelters in the CBD each night, latest homelessness figures from the Adelaide Zero Project estimate.

Earlier this month SA realtors reported rental demand rising to its highest level in decades. Meanwhile the state’s homelessness services sector is bracing itself for a spike in need after next month when Job Keeper is reduced.

A person sleeping rough next to the Westpac building on the corner of King William and Grenfell Street in the city. Image/ Russell Millard
A person sleeping rough next to the Westpac building on the corner of King William and Grenfell Street in the city. Image/ Russell Millard

The report did not take into account student, backpacker and tourism accommodation left vacant since the pandemic hit in March last year.

Among them is Backpack Oz and The Guest House – a 90-bed hostel in the CBD popular among international backpackers and students.

It’s been empty for seven months and is now on the market for sale. Backpack Oz owners for the past 21 years – the Twelftree family – said it had investigated using the Wakefield St property for short-term, affordable housing for youths and singles.

But Sam Twelftree said up to three charities who had shown interest last year in using the vacant property for social housing did not have the capital funding to make it meet their requirements.

“I can’t understand why we wouldn’t use empty properties in the CBD at a time when people are crying out for help,” he said.

Backpack Oz co-owner Sam Twelftree at the 90-bed Wakefield St property now on the market for sale after COVID hit in March 2020. Picture Mark Brake
Backpack Oz co-owner Sam Twelftree at the 90-bed Wakefield St property now on the market for sale after COVID hit in March 2020. Picture Mark Brake

Shelter SA executive director Dr Alice Clark said decades of reduced public housing stock not being replaced and rising housing stress across the state meant unlocking properties sitting idle to house South Australians in need should be a simple decision.

“We urge the government to act swiftly on the housing crisis and not leave our suggestions to gather dust on a shelf,” said Dr Clark. “It is critical to tap into every opportunity to house people properly now more than ever.”

Human Services Minister Michelle Lensink questioned the currency of the report in its use of 2016 census data and said the government’s $550 million future housing plan was reducing housing stress and homelessness.

She said the government had assisted more than 56,000 low-to-moderate households in accessing private rentals in 2019-20 and that private property owners renting through participating community affordable housing providers could also access land tax exemptions.

Airbnb Head of Public Policy Australia Derek Nolan said housing availability and affordability was “an extremely complex issue with a range of contributing factors”.

He said short-term rentals generally comprised only a small percentage of the housing market and that many Airbnb hosts themselves shared their own home to help combat rising living costs.

State Labor Human Services spokeswoman Nat Cook said given the current housing crisis, the report and its recommendations offered some positive solutions worth further consideration.

“The current rental housing is soaring – locking many people out of the market, and forcing some onto the streets,” she said.

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Original URL: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/shelter-sa-report-recommends-vacant-airbnbs-and-unused-private-homes-should-help-house-adelaides-homeless/news-story/cdb8259a19eb17402258fe3dddd7d9c3