Residents, council want inquiry into potential short-stay taxes

A LONG-TIME Lorne resident fears community services and organisations will continue deteriorating unless urgent action is taken to address the town’s housing affordability crisis.

HAH Lornebeach café owner and Lorne Business and Tourism Association member Leon Walker has suggested applying increased or commercial rates to short-stay accommodation properties to encourage more owners to return their homes to the rental pool.

The idea has failed to attract any immediate support from Surf Coast Shire, but the shire is lobbying the state government to instigate a review of its regulations, including investigating a new land tax.

Mr Walker raised the idea in last week’s Surf Coast Times, which he said was from the perspective of a local resident concerned about the “snowball effects” of a declining permanent population.

“A lot of our friends our age have gone, and I feel like it highlights that the families that have gone,” he said.

“They might have been born here or moved here years ago and done the hard yards to get here, then either been forced out by lack of rentals or not being able to buy in.

“I’ve got two young kids – aged 8 and 12 – and it’s about trying to sustain the community.

“If it keeps on that trajectory, we’re going to have a ghost town – with people getting older and not having services.”

 

 

In recent months, Lorne childcare centres have struggled to staff their services, resulting reduced availability for families and prompting a community initiative encouraging grandparents to put their hands up as carers.

Businesses reliant on seasonal workers such as cafes have also reduced their hours or opening days due to staff shortages.

The latest census from 2021 found that more than two-thirds of Lorne houses were empty, and that 10 times more houses were empty compared to rented.

Lorne had 1,093 unoccupied private dwellings on census night on August 10 that year, or 68.6 per cent of all houses. The same survey found 114 properties were rented.

Mr Walker said he did not resent property owners who acted within the existing rules to get the best result for their circumstances, but wanted policy reform to address the current imbalance.

“You’ve got to flip it on its head so that people’s mindset changes.”

Surf Coast Shire’s acting general manager of placemaking and environment Matt Taylor indicated this week that the council was not considering a change to how it applies rates for short-stay properties.

“This is largely due to the complexity and ambiguity around the reclassification of properties of this nature and the overall cost-benefit of administrating and enforcing the change,” he said.

Other south-west Victorian councils have taken action on the problem; Colac Otway Shire applies a 15 per cent tax to properties used as holiday rentals, while the City of Warrnambool this month introduced an annual $400 levy for short-stay properties.

Mr Taylor said the council would instead lobby the Victorian Government to reform its policies and begin delayed regulation reviews relating to short stays, with the intention of increasing rental stock for towns such as Lorne.

“We would like to see the state government introduce policies that encourage owners of short-stay rentals to return those properties to the long-term rental market, potentially through lifting the rate of land tax that applies to short-stay accommodation and other reforms.”

Rental availability and affordability is a long-running issue for Lorne and the Surf Coast more broadly, which real estate and labour market trends exacerbated during COVID-19.

The shire declared a key worker accommodation crisis in May 2021 to acknowledge and address the problem, following a campaign spearheaded by Lorne Ward councillor Gary Allen.

Since then, the shire has implemented strategies including an open letter from the mayor requesting holiday home and investment property owners consider returning houses to the rental market, changes to local laws allowing camping on private land for 120 days, and promotion of Lorne’s Adopt-A-Worker program, which encourages locals to accommodate key workers in their homes.

It has also started a Tiny Houses on Wheels pilot program and continued discussions with government, industry advocates and private bodies.