Ire as Airbnb boasts big hold

AIRBNB has finally revealed it has thousands of Tasmanian homes on its books and says that is good news for the local economy, despite rising concern over marginalised groups trapped by Hobart’s housing crisis.

The short-stay company revealed exclusively to the Mercury that as of January this year, it had 5500 active Tasmanian listings, with 1300 in Hobart and 570 in Launceston.

The Tenants Union of Tasmania says on its website that an Airbnb ban across the state would return hundreds of homes to long-term tenants and reduce Hobart’s skyrocketing rental costs.

But Airbnb spokesman Julian Crowley said the figures were good news.

“Tasmanian workers and their families continue to battle rising costs of living and are understandably using their own homes to help pay their bills, mortgages and bolster their rainy-day funds,” he said.

“We support fair and sensible regulation, and the new rules in Tasmania are evidently working to ensure compliance, while also allowing Airbnb hosts to continue supporting thousands of small businesses across the state, boosting jobs and growing Tasmania’s tourism industry.”

Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said Tasmania needed “to press pause on new listings for entire homes”.

“Tourism does bring significant economic benefits but we have to be honest about the costs,” she said. “Homelessness and the extra demand for housing services comes at a high economic cost.”

Danny Sutton, Colony 47 CEO, said low-income Tasmanian households should not be made homeless to cater for short-stay visitors.

“To the Government’s credit, it now has a more robust approach to regulating shortstay accommodation,” he said.

“The key to ensuring that Tasmanian families are not considered last is to ensure there is an adequate supply of social and affordable housing for low-income households.”

TasCOSS acting CEO Nic McBride said knowing the Airbnb statistics was essential for planning and regulation to ensure the state invested in homeless Tasmanians.

Housing Minister Roger Jaensch said Tasmanians had “embraced the sharing economy”. “We introduced legislation to ensure compliance with our rules and get a better understanding of the shortstay accommodation market,” he said.

“These changes come into effect on December 4, we encourage everyone to make sure they have a permit.”