Tenants at a South Brisbane unit block say they are feeling angry and disappointed after receiving notices to leave so that all of the building’s apartments can be listed on Airbnb.
One tenant said she was only recently told of the move by the building’s owner to turn all nine apartments into short-term rentals, describing it as “unfair” amid the city’s housing crisis.
“All of the tenants are long-term renters who have lived in the building for years. There are families living downstairs,” she told Guardian Australia.
She said she was concerned she would struggle to find another affordable apartment to live in, with rents rising at the fastest rate in 14 years.
“Rents have completely sprung up and it’s so competitive. I think it’s gonna be quite difficult to find somewhere.”
Another tenant, who has lived in the building for three years, said he was told to either pay $70 more a week in rent or leave the property when his lease ends in December.
“The unit next to me has already become an Airbnb. I see people coming in and out all the time,” he said.
The building’s owners declined to comment when contacted by Guardian Australia.
South Brisbane Greens MP, Amy MacMahon, said it wasn’t an isolated event and called for reforms to address the shortage of long-term accommodation across the city.
“To evict long-term tenants and turn an apartment block into a short-stay hotel in the middle of a housing crisis is pretty outrageous,” MacMahon said.
“We’ve heard stories from right across the electorate, about people seeing their apartments turned into short-term accommodation for wealthy tourists.
“In the lead-up to the 2032 Olympics, this is something that we’re likely to see more and more.”
This year the Brisbane city council announced a 50% rates hike on homeowners who list their properties as short-term accommodation, amid a chronic shortage of rental properties. This followed campaigning by the real estate industry peak body, REIQ,
While the move was pitched as an incentive to owners to make properties available for long-term accommodation, some in the social services sector have concerns that focusing debate on the impact of short-term accommodation distracts from the underlying issue, which is a chronic lack of affordable housing.
Susan Wheeldon, Airbnb’s country manager for Australia and New Zealand, said in response to the council’s rates hike that such a move would heighten financial pressures on landlords already dealing with rising interest rates and inflation.
“Hosting helps many Australians stay afloat and make ends meet in the face of rising costs of living,” she said.
Wheeldon also said the rates increases would “hurt guests who rely on short-stay accommodation to travel affordably in Brisbane”.
“Short-term rentals generally comprise a tiny proportion of the overall Australian property market.”
MacMahon said Brisbane city council’s response to double rates for Airbnbs was “a drop in the ocean” and wouldn’t stop wealthy investors from backing short-term accommodation.
“If the Brisbane city council want to be serious about this, they could put time limits on Airbnbs to 90 days per year and enforce permits,” she said.
“This would be a really easy way to have those properties turned from short-term accommodation back into long-term homes.”
A spokesperson for Brisbane’s Liberal National party lord mayor, Adrian Schrinner, accused the Greens of “constantly opposing the construction of new homes while simultaneously complaining about housing affordability and availability”.
