Townsville storage facilities see surge in demand as locals struggle for housing options

Storage providers are seeing a surge in demand as residents struggle to cope during Townsville’s housing crisis. Hear from a local business about the issue.

Kent Relocation Group northern regional manager, Jason Flynn at his Stuart storage facility. Picture: Shae Beplate.

Townsville’s housing crisis is increasing demand for storage unit spaces, with many local storage businesses reporting that they are operating at near capacity.

According to a Queensland Council of Social Service report released last week, the number of homeless Queenslanders has climbed more than 20 per cent since 2017 – almost triple the increase nationally.

With rental vacancies in Townsville at a historic low, combined with climbing interest rates and inflation, the pressure on residents to keep a roof over their heads has been clearly apparent to one of Australia’s largest removals and storage companies – Kent Removals & Storage.

The business’ NQ Manager Jason Flynn said with the housing market cooling, they were seeing a drop in their removals as people opted to stay in their current properties.

But on the flip side, he was seeing an increase in their storage business.

Mr Flynn said people were reaching out for storage space “in a state of desperation” because they were being forced to move from their rentals, either because the properties they live in were being sold and the new owners were no longer renting them out, or because their rents were increasing considerably and they just couldn’t afford to stay.

Kent Removals & Storage NQ manager Jason Flynn was seeing the impact of Townsville’s housing crisis first-hand. Picture: Shae Beplate.

“Storage is one of the fastest growing parts of our business as we’ve seen more and more inquiries from people needing to store their items, either to make the best of the space they have or increasingly because they’ll be couch surfing with family and friends until they can find a place they can afford to rent or purchase,” he said.

“We have the largest custom built storage facility outside of South East Queensland, so we have the space to hold a lot of goods but we are definitely seeing people request longer storage periods or having to extend their original booking as they haven’t found a new home in the time frame they expected.”

These guests staying in crisis accommodation at Townsville City Motel were evicted in early March. Picture: Leighton Smith.

Mr Flynn said they were also seeing a rising number of last minute requests for moves from customers.

“Talking to our customers, people are holding out as long as they can hoping they can secure a property or remain in the same property they are in,” he said.

Another storage unit owner, who didn’t wish to be named, was hearing about people having trouble finding affordable housing or being pushed out by rent rises, who were being forced to put their possessions into storage while they moved in with family.

Multiple local storage companies and property managers declined to speak on the record about what they were seeing on the ground.

Townsville’s long dormant North Rail Yards could be used for housing.

While many confirmed a strong demand for storage space, most were unable to say what was driving demand due to confidentiality reasons.

There was no mention of people attempting to live out of their storage units.

In a bid to boost Build-to-Rent housing schemes, Treasurer Cameron Dick announced incentives on Tuesday, including a 50 per cent land tax discount and exception from foreign land tax surcharges and duties, to apply from July 1.

The move was welcomed by Townsville Enterprise which was seeking $40m to support 1000 units being developed on council land at the former-North railway yards, on Flinders St.

Townsville’s homelessness support provider the Australian Red Cross was asked for comment.

Originally published as Townsville storage facilities see surge in demand as locals struggle for housing options