Mayor’s plea to non-resident ratepayers met with mixed reactions as housing crisis grows

Around a third of Eurobodalla ratepayers are non residents whose homes remain empty for much of the year, despite a growing housing crisis. The Mayor has a plan to change that, but not everyone’s convinced.

Eurobodalla Mayor Mathew Hatcher’s call for non-resident homeowners to let their properties to longer-term renters in the hopes of alleviating a growing housing crisis in the region has been met with mixed reactions by locals and regular visitors.

In a letter to the Shire’s 8500 out-of-town ratepayers, Mr Hatcher urged homeowners to consider placing their properties into the rental market for a period of 12 to 24 months, as the council considers tightening rules around short-term letting.

Local Government Areas across the state, including in the popular Northern Rivers area, have already enacted laws to push holiday rentals onto the rental market, Mr Hatcher said. But, he admitted, councils had real little authority, and was urging the NSW Government to take action.

“We appreciate investors have a right to their holiday rental income, but until the state and federal governments invest in social and affordable housing these are the options available to councils trying to support their communities,” he said.

“Local councils have limited powers to assist residents impacted by a lack of affordable housing, but we are doing our best with a range of practical and advocacy measures to address short and long-term housing needs.”

After the 2019-20 bushfires, Mr Hatcher said the council wrote a similar letter to ratepayers.

“More than 80 homes were made available for rental at that time,” he said.

“The fires were a natural disaster; this is a social disaster. If that generosity were repeated, many working families in the Eurobodalla would benefit.

“At the moment, we have working people living in campgrounds because of the lack of rental accommodation. We’re hearing from business owners that they can’t attract staff because of the lack of housing.”

In the Eurobodalla, non-resident ratepayers make up around a third of the Shire’s 24,500 homeowners, according to the council.

Insufficient social housing stock has made it difficult for lower-income renters to find a home, with the situation exacerbated in recent years by the loss of more than 500 homes during the Black Summer fires and a wave of immigration during Covid.

After years spent travelling the world, Mayor Mathew Hatcher says he’s home: “I'm never leaving”.

Currently, around 20 per cent of households in some towns are experiencing housing stress, well above the state average, with some 50 households currently residing in long-term accommodation in tents at the council’s low-cost, but primitive, campgrounds.

While many locals expressed a desire to see the situation change, some were sceptical of the Mayor’s plan.

Batemans Bay resident Sandra owns a fully furnished apartment which she rents out as a holiday rental. She said she’d be happy to rent it out longer-term, for six to nine months of the year, as she wanted her family to be able to use it over the summer, but said she’d faced setbacks.

“I have inquired of multiple real estate agents about letting the apartment but very few even return my calls,” she said.

“The one agent I did hear from said that few people want fully furnished apartments and that if we get people in it’s hard to get them out.

“I have also been in contact with multiple people from Anglicare and others who are trying to help some homeless families and have offered to put people up at a very reduced rent or even free if there are people in temporary need, but haven’t had any takers of the offer.”

Sandra was also nervous about damage possibly being done to the home, or that she might have trouble getting tenants to leave come summer.

“I’ve heard horror stories about this from other locals who have tried to help in the past,” she said.

“That is why I have ended up sticking to holiday letting.

“Instead we have gotten together some blankets to donate but I’d still like to do more.”

COST of LIVING GENERICS

While he doesn’t currently rent his property, Andrew Dale, who recently moved to Batemans Bay from Canberra to operate a food truck, understands why many homeowners choose not to rent their homes long-term.

“Here’s the issue: my house would get $1100 a week on a long-term rental,” he said.

“But, as a holiday rental would it would get $1000 a night in summer, or $8000 to $10,000 a week as an Airbnb.

“I’m not doing nor planning on doing any of these, but I understand why people tend to go to Airbnb or a holiday rental through an agency over full time rental. Earlier this year there were 53 houses for rent – 52 of them were Airbnb and that’s where the problem lies.

“It’s not just a South Coast thing, it’s everywhere on the coast of Australia unfortunately.”

On the state’s Northern Rivers, local councils have already taken action.

The Byron Shire Council has limited short-term lets to 90 days due to the high number of holiday rentals in the area.

Similar rules are in place in other coastal areas including Newcastle, as well as Muswellbrook, the Clarence Valley, and Dubbo.

On the state’s Far South Coast, the Bega Valley Shire Council drafted rules that would force short-term letters to release their properties to the rental market for a certain portion of the year in their draft housing strategy. The rule was ultimately abandoned.