Bundaberg homeless crisis worsens, UAP candidate Kristie Nash picks up cause

A Bundaberg mum and her son are facing life on the street due to a dire rental shortage.

A Bundaberg mother and her young son are facing life on the street after spending seven years in their rental property.

Joanne Back is a single mother with one son who has autism.

With the owner of her home returning to Bundaberg, she and her son have been told they must find somewhere else to live; to-date they have had no luck at all.

United Australia Party federal candidate Kristie Nash highlighted Ms Back’s situation this week because it was a story becoming far too common in the Bundaberg region.

“Right now, our cost of living is going up, rents are up, fuel prices are up and life is getting harder for everyday Aussies,” Ms Nash said.

“My mission as a political candidate is to be in touch with my community and understand the issues that everyday people are struggling with so I can properly represent them in parliament.”

Ms Back, who works part-time, has a flawless rental history and has been left “distraught” by the situation she is now in.

Hinkler candidate Kristie Nash chats with Joanne Back and son Tully.

It’s one that is only going to become more common according to the REIQ.

Data from last month puts Bundaberg‘s rental vacancy rate at a heartbreaking 0.4 per cent.

The REIQ said there was little indication of vacancy rates improving any time soon as CEO Antonia Mercorella said she couldn’t recall a time where rental vacancies were so consistently and drastically low across Queensland.

“We’re experiencing the perfect storm of low housing supply levels, incredibly high interstate migration particularly to our regions, longer length tenancies as tenants choose to stay put for greater security and certainty, and less shared tenancies as people want more space now they’re working from home,” she said.

“A rental market as extraordinarily tight as this presents challenges to the local economy and to the community.

“We acknowledge that whilst current market conditions are favourable from an investor’s perspective, no one wants to see people struggling to find a place to live, forced into unsuitable housing (such as big families crammed in studio apartments), or living unsustainably outside of their means.”

Ms Mercorella said with international borders reopening, the situation was only going to get worse and more needed to be done to relieve the pressure.

The NewsMail is campaigning to help our homeless.

Ms Nash said she believed there were two factors at play in the housing crisis, one being a lack of new builds and the other being buyers snapping homes to live in rather than rent out.

“...investors are now being priced out of the property market because of skyrocketing building costs and fierce competition for older houses that come up for sale,” she said.

“Added to that is the looming interest rate rises which are forecast to jump five times before the end of the year. There is no wondering why investors are sitting tight at present.

“Investing in property needs to be a viable option for investors if we want more rental properties to be available, but I fear our economic climate is driving investors away from the rental market at the moment which will only hurt renters in the longer term.

“We also have the added pressure of southerners moving to our region chasing a better lifestyle, which is driving the sale of older houses locally.”

Ms Nash said she believed all levels of government were stifling the development of affordable housing projects.

“I’ve had a lot of people talking to me about the pressures of being on a lower income right now,” she said.

“It’s heartbreaking to see the stress and anxiety that many people are experiencing right now as they try to find a place to live and look after their families and I’m determined to find solutions.”

In 2021, the NewsMail asked Bundaberg’s local, state and federal representatives what their plan was to fix the housing crisis.

Read their responses here.

Originally published as Bundaberg homeless crisis worsens, UAP candidate Kristie Nash picks up cause