Cash for short-stay accommodation just a band-aid on a wounded Labor’s housing crisis
Labor’s latest band-aid attempt to fix the housing crisis ‘robs Peter to pay Paul’ according to Shadow Tourism Minister Louise Kingston.
Mrs Kingston said short-stay accommodation providers were an important part of the tourism industry particularly in her electorate of South West.
“Labor’s reckless approach to the tourism sector flies in the face of the critical role the sector plays in the South West,” Mrs Kingston said.
“They’re essentially paying off owners of short-stay accommodation to take their properties off the tourism market.
“A shrink in the supply of short-stay accommodation will adversely impact prices and send more people to Bali when we need to encourage them to holiday here.”
Mrs Kingston said local communities had been calling for better regulation of short-stay accommodation but valued their contribution to local tourism.
“The Government has been sitting on a draft position paper for over a year, while Local Governments have been getting on with the job to ensure short-stay accommodation is effective and compatible in tourism communities,” she said.
Shadow Housing Minister Steve Martin said the policy did nothing to address the fundamental issue driving the housing crisis, which was too few houses.
“Paying landlords to move their homes from the short-term rental market to a 12-month lease, is nothing more than a short-term shuffle that does not produce more houses,” Mr Martin said.
“The only solution is to produce more dwellings and it seems the Cook Labor Government will do anything else other than provide more dwellings.
“For a Government that has sat on its hands for seven years, this is nothing short of an insult to families struggling to find a home.”
Mr Martin said there were some very easy levers the Government could pull to get housing construction moving, including getting Western Power to connect the power on at homes that have already been completed.
“Developers tell us delays in Western Power approvals, completion of head works and connections are some of the significant causes of home building delays,” he said
“The Government must prioritise creating more housing stock, not just shifting the deckchairs on the Titanic.”