Could caravans, sheds help solve housing crisis on Coast?

Living in someone’s backyard shed could be the future for some struggling to find accommodation on the Fraser Coast.

As the Fraser Coast housing crisis remains acts of desperation are being suggested, where caravans and “sheds in backyards” have been put forward as an option to solve the issue.

As the Fraser Coast rental and housing crisis continues, questions have been raised whether caravans and “sheds in backyards” could be a solution.

The suggestion of short-term accommodation in sheds was made by Wide Bay Burnett’s CCIQ Regional Stakeholder Manager Tim Sayre at a recent community forum into the issue.

“In areas that usually have big blocks, one of the first thing somebody does when they build a house is they put a shed on the back of that block, put in a kitchen and bathroom, and they live in it while the house is being built,” he said.

“Once the house is built ... there‘s options that you might be able to look at using those sheds that are already kitted out as some short term accommodation.”

Desperation strikes as sheds and caravans are being looked into as a short-term solution to the Fraser Coast housing crisis.

The suggestion was not knocked back and was considered an option as long as “neighbours were okay with it.”

Another suggestion has been raised about utilising the number of caravan parks across Hervey Bay for short-term accommodation.

The council stated it was currently going through a redevelopment process, considering the addition of cabins in camping areas but that underlying issues such as what they can do with the state-owned land, restricted them.

Council’s Acting Executive Manager for Development Services Jamie Cockburn said if private enterprises own caravan parks, they might be able to adapt cabins into their development as a short-term accommodation option.

“It depends on the particular approval, and they’re all bound by the existing approval,” he said.

“If the (private) Caravan Park owner went and filled it up with caravans and then rented them out under a tenancy agreement, then certainly they can do that, as a long term, there’s no rule about that.”

Originally published as Could caravans, sheds help solve housing crisis on Coast?