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After reviving talks of a rent freeze policy in NSW, the Greens has set its sights on another state grappling with a housing crisis.
The Victorian Greens has added its voice to the growing chorus calling for a crackdown on short-stay accommodations in a bid to alleviate the state’s rental squeeze.
Gabrielle de Vietri MP, the Victorian Greens spokesperson for renters’ rights, said the unregulated nature of the short-stay accommodation sector had worsened the state’s rental crisis.
“Investment properties are being turned into mini hotels at the cost of a family or worker having access to secure rental properties,” she stated.
Under the party’s proposal, a 90-day cap on how many nights a year a landlord could lease a short-term rental would be introduced.
The party pointed out that property owners can currently rent out their second homes for short-term stays using third-party services like Airbnb, without any restrictions on the duration of the stay and at significantly higher rates than long-term rentals.
The only state to impose duration restrictions in short-term rentals is NSW, where the number of days a property owner can rent out their property on Airbnb and other short-term rental platforms depends on the location and zoning of the property.
Other changes proposed by the Greens include allowing owner corporations to regulate short stays for properties that are not the host’s primary residence and the establishment of a mandatory public register of short-stay operators.
According to the Greens, the proposed regulations — which were unveiled on 21 February — would help incentivise Victorians to make their secondary homes available as long-term rentals rather than keeping them as short stays where they would sit empty for most of the year outside of the holiday season.
In popular holiday destinations in regional Victoria, the Greens highlighted that rents are at record levels while the number of available rental properties has plummeted.
Meanwhile, in inner-city regions, the party said large apartment buildings had been turned into “de facto hotels”, which, in turn, reduced amenity and liveability for permanent residents.
Aside from affecting tenants, the Greens also criticised short stays for reducing the capacity of local economies to recover from the pandemic because of worker shortages and has plunged many families into housing stress or crisis.
Ms Vietri said the growing conversion of long-term rentals into short-stay accommodation had exacerbated an already tight rental market across Victoria.
The Greens said there are currently 1,200 properties available for short stays in the Melbourne local government area (LGA) of the City of Yarra.
Meanwhile, there are fewer than 300 properties available for rent in the area.
“We need to introduce strong short-stay regulations to ensure affordable housing is available to families and workers experiencing housing stress.
“Cities around the world like New York, London, and Berlin regulate their short-stay market, it’s time for us to do the same,” she concluded.
In response to questions regarding the proposed regulations, Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan stated to the media the Andrews government would wait for more detail on the Greens’ proposal before declaring its position.
There has been growing pushback against short-term rentals in recent years, with the criticism centred on the industry disrupting the housing market by reducing the availability of long-term rental units and driving up housing costs.
At the end of January, the Sunshine Coast became the second Queensland council to crack down on unapproved Airbnbs.
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