The Victorian Greens have welcomed the City of Melbourne’s decision to regulate short-stay accommodation, but say councils shouldn’t be forced to take things into their own hands.
Over the past year the Greens have been urging the Victorian Labor Government to regulate the short-stay industry in a bid to alleviate the rental crisis.
They say stronger regulations would free up more homes to be used as secure long-term rentals or for owner-occupiers, rather than as income streams for property investors.
Yet to date, the Government has done nothing.
And now, overnight, the City of Melbourne has resolved to regulate short-stays like Airbnb with a days-per-year cap and registration fees.
Victorian Greens renters’ rights spokesperson, Gabrielle de Vietri, said with Labor falling so short of their duty to address the crisis, councils were being forced to take things into their own hands.
The Greens currently have a bill before Parliament that would introduce:
- A 90-day cap on short stay listings that are not a person’s primary residence
- New rules to allow owners corporations to regulate short-stays in their building
- A new mandatory public register of short-stays
As stated by Victorian Greens renters’ rights spokesperson, Gabrielle de Vietri MP:
“Strong short-stay regulations in Victoria would incentivise owners to make homes available as long-term rentals or for owner occupiers, rather than use them as a lucrative income stream.
“In popular holiday destinations in regional Victoria, rents are at record levels while the number of available rental properties has plummeted.
“And in the city, large apartment buildings have been turned into de facto hotels, while renters compete with each other for substandard, mould-infested shoeboxes.
“Cities around the world like New York, Tokyo, London and Berlin regulate their short-stay market. It’s time for us to do the same.”
