Housing Crisis

A lack of housing is one of the biggest issues currently facing our region. Having a roof over one’s head is a fundamental human need which everyone deserves to have met. The current reality is that we have an imbalance between the supply and demand of our housing stock.

The region has lost 30% of our rental stock as properties have transferred to owner occupied dwellings. This is due to the influx of people to the region post covid and to less people investing in residential property due to the Queensland Government’s new rental red tape which has made property a less attractive investment. 

Increasing rents and increasing cost of living pressures has led to many in our community experiencing homelessness for the first time.

Families needing to rehome are facing the reality that with limited housing stock, they may not be able to find another property that is affordable and may be forced to permanently leave the region. This increased demand in the rental market is also increasing demand on the affordable and social housing sector.  This is a sector which was already under pressure in Queensland, experiencing one of the longest waitlists in the country, due to the government’s lack of long-term investment.

A recent local housing Summit uncovered that our Whitsunday region is under enormous stress with no crisis accommodation, a low rental vacancy and no government investment scheduled until beyond 2026.  The government’s response to date is to announce another housing review and expand the Government’s QBuild manufacturing facility in Brisbane. 

The Housing Crisis must be treated like any other major disaster - our local government and industry must be empowered to work together to deliver grass roots solutions; to provide crisis accommodation, incentivise development and attract investment.

Government's role should be to facilitate, oversee and invest funds into infrastructure and placed based solutions that the community has identified and prioritised - not to make empty announcements and waste taxpayers' money on endless reviews delivered out of George Street, Brisbane.