Motions

Short Stay Accommodation

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (17:13): I move:

1. That a select committee of the Legislative Council be established to inquire and report on the short stay accommodation sector in South Australia with particular reference to:

(a) the role of short stay accommodation in contributing to the rental affordability crisis;

(b) the social and economic impacts of short stay accommodation on South Australian communities;

(c) the potential to regulate the short stay accommodation sector;

(d) the effectiveness of regulatory models adopted in other jurisdictions, both nationally and overseas;

(e) potential taxes or levies that could be applied to short stay accommodation and long-term vacant residential property;

(f) incentives that could be provided to home owners to transition properties listed on short stay accommodation platforms onto the long-term rental market;

(g) other strategies that could be adopted to activate residential property that is vacant long term; and

(h) any other related matters.

2. That this council permits the select committee to authorise the disclosure or publication, as it sees fit, of any evidence or documents presented to the committee prior to such evidence being presented to the council.

This motion is to establish a select committee looking at the short stay accommodation sector in South Australia. In particular, I am proposing that the committee will have reference to:

the role of short stay accommodation in contributing to the rental affordability crisis;

the social and economic impacts of short stay accommodation on South Australian communities;

the potential to regulate the short stay accommodation sector;

the effectiveness of regulatory models adopted in other jurisdictions, both nationally and overseas;

potential taxes or levies that could be applied to short stay accommodation and long-term vacant residential property;

incentives that could be provided to home owners to transition properties listed on short stay accommodation platforms onto the long-term rental market;

other strategies that could be adopted to activate residential property that is vacant long term; and

any other related matters.

In moving for this inquiry, the Greens recognise the severe nature of the housing crisis that we are facing at the moment in our state and the impact this is having on some of our most vulnerable people. While short stay accommodation such as Airbnb and Stayz have become popular features of our state's tourism economy, they also contribute to the housing crisis by reducing the amount of housing that is available to rent or, indeed, buy. This impact can be felt not only in the city and the suburbs but also in regional and coastal areas, where houses are often left empty for six months of the year during the off-season.

How can it be that we have some homes in our state that are vacant for months on end while people sleep on the street? That is not sustainable in a housing crisis, and this parliament has a responsibility to do something about it. We have rent prices that are skyrocketing out of control and a rental vacancy rate that is just 1.13 per cent. That is the latest data according to October.

Last week, new data was released that showed rental affordability in SA is at its lowest level in a decade and that the average renter is spending 30 per cent of their income on rent. Meanwhile, we have perfectly good homes sitting there vacant for protracted periods and we have some people making a lot of money from short stay platforms like Airbnb. It is not sustainable, and we have to look at what we can do to move some of these homes into the long-term rental market.

The Greens have advocated for a long time for the government to build more social housing, and also for parliament to take action to encourage the development of more social and affordable housing at the private development level, but in terms of getting this housing crisis under control we need to look at what we can do to activate stock that has already been built. Are we making the most of properties that are already in the system?

The census data conducted a few years ago found that there were more than 80,000 properties vacant on census night. I am not suggesting all of those were on Airbnb. Even if just a small fraction of them were, though, that demonstrates the significant scale of this crisis. I know from my time being a City of Adelaide councillor that this was a significant factor in the CBD. From memory, there was some data that came out from PropTrack recently which I think found that 2,000 properties were vacant in the Adelaide CBD area alone—about 20 per cent of all properties. That is significant and, again, the government has to do something about that.

Other states have begun to implement a range of different approaches to addressing the impact of short stay rentals and accommodation on housing and looking at what they can do to encourage the owners of these properties to put them back into the housing market. New South Wales was the first state in the country to impose limits on the number of nights that short stay accommodation could be let each year, applying a 180-night cap on otherwise empty properties across Greater Sydney. The Victorian government has introduced a 7.5 per cent levy on short stay accommodation bookings, and that will begin next year. The revenue collected from this levy will go to support building and maintaining social and affordable housing across that state.

Western Australia has recently had a parliamentary inquiry, and as a result they have resolved that all short-term rentals need to be registered with the government by 2025, with a $10,000 incentive to be provided to hosts who make their properties available for long-term tenants. In Tasmania, hosts are now being required to get a planning permit from their local council. Evidently, there are a whole range of mechanisms that governments can deploy to rein in the impacts of short stay accommodation and free up properties that can be used for longer term accommodation.

I know I often talk about a more punitive range of options available—that is, increasing taxes, some of the disincentives that could be placed on Airbnb—but we should be looking at both a carrot and a stick approach. One of the things I would really like to look at through this inquiry, should it get support in this chamber, is what incentives we can provide to landlords as well to get them to think differently about their investment.

We have also seen several councils in South Australia consider tightening their regulations on short stay properties. Adelaide City Council, for instance, has recently made a change so that if a property is listed for short stay accommodation for 90 days or more in the previous financial year, it is subject to higher rates. I think that makes sense because we know, of course, that these short stay rentals have a significant impact as well on council services and amenities, but we should not be relying on a hotchpotch approach at local councils. We need to actually have a systemic, whole-of-government, whole-of-state approach.

An inquiry will be an opportunity for the parliament to investigate the impact of short stay accommodation on the housing market and to consider what measures could be implemented locally. The housing crisis is a key priority for the Greens, here in the state parliament, and I think this inquiry could play a very important role in informing the policy positions that all of the political parties take as we head towards the next election. With that, I conclude my remarks by indicating that I do plan to bring this to a vote when parliament resumes in the new year, and I would encourage members to discuss this within their caucuses to form a position over the Christmas break.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I.K. Hunter.