AS housing stress only worsens across the state, Victoria’s Short Stay Levy Bill 2024 has been introduced to Parliament, with hopes of leaving more homes for the long-term private rental market.
As announced in the Housing Statement, the legislation introduces a 7.5% levy from 1 January 2025 on short stay accommodation bookings, including bookings made through platforms such as Airbnb and Stayz.
“The demand for housing has never been greater around Australia, and the Victorian short stay levy will support the delivery of more social housing and encourage more people to use their properties for permanent rental accommodation across the state,” said Harriet Shing, minister for housing.
In across the state there are around 63,000 short stay accommodation places, with almost half located in regional Victoria and almost 50,000 entire homes.
The government expects the levy to raise around $60 million a year, with all revenue to go to Homes Victoria for the building and maintenance of social and affordable housing, including 25% of funds to be invested in regional Victoria.
The levy will only apply to stays less than 28 days and will not apply to a homeowner leasing out all or part of their principal place of residence for a short stay, such as when a homeowner goes on holiday and someone else stays there temporarily.
The levy will not apply to bookings made prior to 1 January 2025.
“This is an important step towards making more properties available for long-term rental – and we’ve consulted with the sector to make sure we’ve got the balance right,” said Tim Pallas, treasurer.
At the same time, Eacham Curry, senior director or government & corporate affairs at Stayz says today’s announcements “undermine the original purpose of the levy”.
“Stayz has always advocated for the STRA sector to make a contribution that recognises the impact that it has on the provision of services by State and Local Governments. Any levy should be set at a sensible level and applied to all short-term accommodation providers,” added Curry.
“STRA is not the cause or the solution to the current pressures on housing. We would encourage government to avoid additional or increased day or night caps, limits on guest numbers, or day fees. None of these approaches address current concerns around housing and could risk the value STRA brings to local communities and their economies.”
This comes as the latest data from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reveals Victoria has more people currently in housing stress than any other state or territory.
“These unprecedented levels of housing stress will increase homelessness unless we act urgently to build more social housing,” said Deborah Di Natale, CEO at Council to Homeless Persons.
“Victoria is desperately behind the rest of the country on public and community housing, with at least 6000 new homes needed each year for a decade as a bare minimum.”
According to the data, the top 10 months on record for people in housing stress visiting specialist homelessness services were all from Victoria, with five of the past six months in the top 10 on record.
“While some economic indicators show inflation is moderating, it’s clear from these figures the housing crisis is actually getting worse,” added Di Natale.
“Rising rents and low vacancy rates are pushing people to the brink of homelessness.”
Victoria has around 30% more people in housing stress and seeking help from homelessness services than in either NSW or Queensland.
Victoria continues to have the lowest amount of social housing as a proportion of total housing stock in Australia, at just 2.8% of dwellings.
“Victoria’s failure to provide the basic human right of housing is leaving more people with no choice but to seek help from already-stretched homelessness services,” said Di Natale.
“The Victorian government must make building more social housing its number one priority.”
