A Canberra Greens politician says short-term accommodation companies like Airbnb and Stayz are keeping Canberrans from finding affordable rentals.
ACT Greens MLA Johnathan Davis brought forward a motion today in the Legislative Assembly, proposing a cap on the number of short-term rentals in Canberra.
In a statement, he said the motion aimed to "acknowledge and respond" to evidence that short-term rental accommodation was negatively impacting the supply and price of long-term rental properties in the capital.
Mr Davis said the government should be doing more to address the housing crisis in the ACT.
"Many of these properties were once available on the long-term rental market. But the strong returns, lack of regulation and absence of protections for tenants have all combined and proved a temptation too great for some property investors," he said.
"Estimates suggest there are more than 1,000 entire Canberra properties advertised at any given time on short-term rental platforms.
"Imagine the impact on our long-term rental market if we had 1,000 properties come back to the long-term rental market overnight."
Last year the national vacancy rate fell to its lowest on record as rental prices continue to reach new heights.
Mr Davis said short-term rental apps were taking up a chunk of the market that could not be spared amid a housing crisis.
"The ACT government needs to identify what policy intervention would be appropriate to manage short-term rental accommodation in the ACT, with the aim of increasing the supply of long-term rentals," he said.
Mr Davis's motion includes capping the number of properties that can be rented for short-term rental accommodation purposes and capping the number of days an entire property can be rented.
