Cairns housing crisis: Casual worker Jazz Beer one of many living in alternative accommodation

Casual worker Jazz Beer is living in a van, something increasingly more prevalent as housing stock and affordability dwindle. Read why Cairns needs a seat at the housing summit table.

FOR Cairns barista Jazz Beer home is where the van is parked.

The casual worker is one of many people living in either a van or tent as the Far North grapples with a severe housing shortage.

She said she ended up in a van after rent prices forced her friends back into their families’ homes or share houses.

Ms Beer hopes to eventually buy her own house but doesn’t want the cost to be at the expense of her life.

Cairns barista Jazz Beer is currently living out of a van so that she doesn't have to pay rent. Picture: Brendan Radke

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“There was no options about at the moment, definitely nothing that I could afford being a casual worker,” she said.

“I decided to go ahead with the van life, it’s more of a flexible option.”

Ms Beer’s situation is not unfamiliar as struggling families in Atherton use tents to camp at caravan parks as a short-term solution to the region’s long-term housing issue.

The situation has Far North leaders pleading for change amid the state government’s inaugural Housing Summit roundtable.

The roundtable on Friday ahead of the summit in October revealed the depth of Queensland’s housing crisis. Topics brought to the table included unlocking land and housing supply, fast tracking social housing and collaboration between government and the private sector.

Cairns Mayor Bob Manning said he and Cairns Regional Council advocated for regional and North Queensland to have a “seat at the table” at the Queensland Housing Summit.

Cairns Mayor Bob Manning at Crystalbrook Flynn on the Cairns Esplanade. Picture: Brendan Radke

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“As a council we are prepared and ready, with a broad range of work already underway, to sit at the table to help find a solution to this issue,” he said.

“Cairns welcomes a holistic look at these complex issues that requires involvement by all levels of government, as well as partnerships with non-profit and private sectors.

“It’s important that the unique needs of regional Queensland are well represented in the discussion and the focus includes both short-term relief measures as well as longer term supply opportunities.”

Resolutions hoped to come out of the Housing Summit was a greater development into Far North infrastructure after the 2022-23 state budget failed to allocate significant funding for the region, according to RE/MAX Cairns owner Ray Murphy.

RE/MAX Cairns co-owner Ray Murphy. Picture: Brendan Radke

“The rental crisis is a big thing driving the market and the focus should be on the rental side,” he said.

“We need to stimulate growth in the southern corridor … and we need investors to build new homes.”

Mr Murphy’s comments follow a state government announcement that its 2023 land tax hike would go ahead as Far North leaders aired concerns it would drive investors to cities interstate.

Originally published as Cairns housing crisis: Casual worker Jazz Beer one of many living in alternative accommodation