Regional housing crisis fuels job crisis

Everybody's Home's latest analysis has highlighted how a severe shortage of cheap housing since March 2020 has left a multimillion-dollar-sized hole in national regional economies. Due to soaring rents and plummeting vacancy rates, employers in these regions are unable to attract employees.

The group’s study analysed the situation on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, the NSW South Coast, Launceston and north-east Tasmania, South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula, and Victoria's Geelong and Surf Coast.

It found that, on average, rents in these regions had increased 32.74 per cent since March 2020, with the highest being 48 per cent in the Fleurieu Peninsula and the lowest being Geelong, and the Surf Coast’s 17 per cent.

On top of this, 37 per cent of low-income households in these regions were experiencing severe rental stress, led by the 46 per cent seen on the NSW South Coast, while Geelong and the Surf Coast once again had the lowest portion experiencing these troubles (26 per cent).

Over the same period, there has been a marked increase in job vacancies in these five areas of the country. Each region has experienced an over 100 per cent increase in job vacancies in the nearly two and a half years since March 2020.

Of the 480,000 vacant jobs across Australia in May 2022, these five regions accounted for 11,735, or 2.4 per cent. 

Queensland’s Sunshine Coast has experienced a 259 per cent rise in available employment, taking the number of unfilled positions to 3,678. Geelong has experienced a 133 per cent rise, there has been a 113 per cent rise on the South Coast, a 119 per cent jump on the Fleurieu Peninsula, and a 129 per cent surge in Tasmania’s north-east and Launceston. 

As for the economic output lost to these vacancies, the biggest deprivation is on the Sunshine Coast ($786 million), followed by Geelong and the Surf Coast ($760 million), the NSW South Coast ($642 million) with both the Fleurieu Peninsula and Launceston sharing a $201 million debt.

For these reasons, Kate Colvin, national spokesperson for Everybody’s Home, described the lack of affordable housing in our regions not only as a social crisis but also as a “deep economic crisis”. 

Escalating rents and dwindling vacancy rates are the greatest deterrents for potential employees looking to enter the regional job mark, with Ms Colvin adding that it is suffocating our regional communities.

“Our completely lopsided housing system is choking off the economic potential of regional Australia. The connection between housing and jobs needs to be at the very top of the agenda for the employment summit next week,” she said.

She implored the government to expand social and affordable housing offerings by building an additional 25,000 new dwellings per year. This, Ms Colvin vehemently believes, would give people on modest incomes greater variety and alleviate some of the pressure currently piled onto the housing system.

“We need a better-balanced housing system that supports social inclusion and fosters economic growth. The housing needs of Australian workers warrant serious attention at the employment summit,” she concluded.

[Related: Almost half of Australian homes lost value over latest quarter]