Bundaberg, Gympie, Fraser Coast’s crippling rental crisis hits families hard

A mum living in the epicentre of Queensland‘s rental crisis has spoken out as increasingly desperate families find themselves homeless and fresh figures reveal there’s no end in sight.

A Wide Bay mother of three has revealed her extreme struggle to find somewhere to live as the region’s rent crisis worsens.

Jessica Olly Stone has been scouring the rental market for the past three months, looking for somewhere she and her children can live, to no avail.

“I have applied for over 25 units and houses over a three-month period and I get denied for all of them and they don’t even tell you why you get denied,” Ms Stone said.

Ms Stone is just one of hundreds of similar stories from Gympie, Maryborough, Hervey Bay and Bundaberg, where 11 of Queensland’s 20 worsening rental markets can be found.

“There are a lot of rentals in Bundaberg but they’re for big families or people who have good jobs,” Ms Stone said.

“It’s so hard for single parents like myself, and most rentals won’t even allow you to apply for a one bedroom to get you off the streets for the time being.

“My dad won‘t kick me out but it’s not suitable for me and my children as my brother can’t handle my child as he has a disability so people are always yelling at them or making upset,” she said.

Jessica Olly Stone, with children Kai and Izak, has been left upset and angry by the inability to find a rental for her family.

This forced them to “pack up and go for long drives just to get away”.

“It makes me feel so upset and angry that I can’t even get anything to put over my kids head and how they rather accept people who don’t have kids for their homes.”

New data from the REA Group lists Gympie among the 20-worst locales for declining rental stock.

REA’s report found Gympie experienced a 65 per cent drop in active rental listings from January 2020 to January 2022.

Australian online rental review website RentRabbit states 11 of the 20 worst suburbs in Queensland were found within the Wide Bay.

The REA Group said Gympie experienced a 65 per cent drop in active rentals from 2020 to 2022.

Bundaberg Central was the worst, with every available rental in the suburb gone within three weeks of being listed.

This left it with a vacancy rate of 0 per cent, down from 10.5 per cent last year.

Pialba at Hervey Bay was the third worst, with Torquay and Bundaberg South rounding out the top five.

Bundaberg West, Granville, Bundaberg North, Burnett Heads, Gympie, Svensson Heights and Rainbow Beach were the other Wide Bay suburbs and townships to crack the list of 20.

These suburbs made the list owing to their low vacancy rates, low average weekly household incomes, and because they were in below average socio-economic areas.

RentRabbit.com.au co-founder Ben Pretty said many of tenants faced desperate conditions.

“Many renters in Queensland are being faced with a triple whammy – they live in socio-economically disadvantaged areas, they have low household incomes and it’s incredibly hard for them to find rental accommodation,” Mr Petty said.

“Some of these renters are living in suburbs that have a vacancy rate of 0 per cent, which means rental properties are being snapped up the moment they become vacant.

“Unsurprisingly, in the vast majority of these suburbs, rents have increased over the past year, often by double-digit percentages.”