Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There's no doubt that the unrestrained conversion of Hobart homes into short-stay accommodation, like Airbnb, is contributing directly to our housing crisis. Indeed, The Mercury newspaperrevealed just today that Airbnb has 5,500 Tasmanian listings, including a remarkable 1,300 in Hobart. This won't surprise the many people who are couch surfing or who are sleeping in cars or on the streets and who feel they're going nowhere on the public housing waiting list. It won't surprise people who are trying to rent and who join the queue at a rare open home, knowing that they have a snowflake's chance in hell. Quite recently, I've been contacted by a family who are scared they would become homeless—even though both adults work—because their lease was not going to be renewed and they couldn't find anywhere else to live. I've also heard from a woman with cancer who is couch surfing while she waits for suitable public housing, and a grandmother doing her best to accommodate her son and grandson because they can no longer afford their rent. It's no wonder Hobart has the lowest vacancy rate of any capital city. Part of the problem is the Tasmanian government's hands-off approach to Airbnb. What it really should be doing instead is returning Airbnb to its original model, where locals could make some extra money from spare rooms and granny flats. That way, tourists could enjoy an authentic experience, without Tasmanians being squeezed out of their own communities.