$250 a week for sheds, messy backyards: Qld’s slumlords exposed

Homeowners are cashing in on the state’s housing crisis, illegally renting out backyards and sheds, often without access to running water or amenities.

• Exposed: Backyard black market
• Editorial: More must be done

Queenslanders looking to make a quick buck are cashing in on the state’s housing crisis by illegally renting out their backyards and sheds, often without access to running water or toilets and showers, to desperate individuals and families locked out of the rental market.

Online spaces such as Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree are being used to advertise dilapidated backyards, sheds and small plots of unkempt land around the Brisbane region for about $250 a week, sometimes more, usually under the name “space for rent”.

To camp in Queensland’s coveted national parks would cost someone $50.75 for seven nights, for three people it would cost $152.25 and a family of up to eight people would be charged $203 for a week in one of the 51 camping areas with toilet and shower facilities.

Paula and her husband Mark have been homeless since 2020 after Mark was laid off during the Covid pandemic. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

One of Queensland’s largest homeless support services, Micah Projects, says it has even seen people being charged just to park in driveway to sleep in at night.

According to travel company Expedia, the cheapest caravan park in Queensland would cost two adults $336 a week, while to stay at an unpowered waterfront site on the idyllic Noosa River with amenities would set two people back $386.

Micah Projects chief executive Karyn Walsh said though camping on private property had always been a way of meeting immediate need, the fact people were charging for it often made their financial situation worse.

“The risk is, these people are going under the radar they’re probably not being counted unless they’ve got a housing application,” she said.

“But I think there’s a huge risk public health wise when there’s no there’s no toilets and showers, people’s health deteriorates. They they’re at risk of infections and poor hygiene.”

Ms Walsh said Micah Projects had seen people come to the service for help because they’ve used all their money paying ridiculous amounts for substandard living arrangements.

Paula and her husband Mark have been homeless since 2020 after Mark was laid off during the pandemic.

One of the spaces listed for rent on Facebook Marketplace. A tent can be seen in the background.

They now live in a van on the Wynnum foreshore and admit to being offered these “spaces” to rent more than once.

Paula says they were initially offered a parking lot for their van at a petrol station free of charge if they acted like “human guard dogs” and ensured nobody stole the petrol overnight.

“It was an industrial area, it was a petrol station and because someone was stealing the petrol they wanted us to go in and guard it,” she said.

“When we said ‘no thank you’ to that, he said, oh I’ve got some space in my other yard, you can stay there’.

“For $200 a week, and we weren’t allowed to use the toilets or showers because they were in the building.”

Paul said her experience of being offered a backyard was through Facebook, but she knew of people who had been approached while camping in public spaces.

“People were seeing them in a tent especially over the Christmas period and (one man) was offered a backyard for quite a lot of money; that was at Manly,” she said.

“You feel as if you are just taken advantage of, you have no other option and they swoop in.”

City of Moreton Bay Mayor Peter Flannery. Picture: John Gass

Three major south east councils – Brisbane City Council, Redland City Council and City of Moreton Bay Council – all say they have not handed any fines out in the last 12 months to anyone engaging in the illegal practice.

But Moreton Bay Mayor Peter Flannery said the issue some were profiting off vulnerable people was “disturbing”.

“Given the current housing crisis, we are acutely aware of the rising numbers of people experiencing homelessness in City of Moreton Bay,” he said.

“We know that this is a tough situation and City of Moreton Bay Council is taking a balanced approach to compassionately respond to people sleeping rough.

Mr Flannery said his council had been active in helping achieve better housing outcomes for residents, including contributing $3.36m towards the new Moreton Bay Housing and Homelessness Hub in Redcliffe and offering council land for affordable or crisis housing.

A backyard listed for rent on Facebook Marketplace.

A spokeswoman for Redland City Council said it encouraged any residents aware of the issue happening in their neighbourhoods to report it to them.

Paula said the couple was also offered a “grotty” space to camp for free at a business in Hemmant who wanted them to keep an eye out for thieves overnight who had been pilfering their fuel.

“When we said ‘no thank you’ to that, he said, ‘oh I’ve got some space in my other yard, you can stay there’ for $200 a week, and we weren’t allowed to use the toilets or showers because they were in the building,” she said.

In November, just 5500 homes in the entire state were listed as available to rent.

Paula said that attempting to apply for a rental was so unachievable in the current climate, they had stopped looking.

“We are only on one wage, and there is no way we could afford $700, $650 a week, so there is no use in applying,” she said.

“We save a lot of money when we are in the van, it’s not an easy life, but it is easier than finding something at the moment.”

Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon said it was “incredibly distressing to see some of the circumstances that people are pushed to”.

“That’s why we brought in laws to make sure there are minimum standards (for rental properties),” she said.

“Every Queenslander (and) every Australian expects there to be minimum conditions on housing standards and that’s why we brought in those reforms.”

The Housing Minister said there were a number of financial support options for struggling Queenslanders to help cover rent, rent increases and bonds.

She said $9.7 million was provided to nearly 1700 households between July and September last year in support payments.

Ms Scanlon also said the pressure on the building industry and widespread collapses of construction companies was slowing down the creation of new homes.

“It is certainly having an impact on the construction timeframes and the ability for us to build the amount of homes we need here in Queensland,” she said.