Sculpture reflects unreachable dream
A RUSTY steel tent sits on the sands of Currumbin Beach with a $5.2m price tag.
Next to it, a large sign reads: “Steal and Co Real Estate: a rare offering of supreme potential. Absolute beachfront ... contact Robyn Banks.”
Exhibited as part of the Gold Coast’s acclaimed SWELL Sculpture Festival which wrapped up on the weekend, artist Jim Blower’s work, titled Affordable Housing, stopped spectactors in their tracks.
There’s smirks — who doesn’t love making fun of real estate agents?
Shrieks of laughter from little ones, posing for photos inside the tent.
But also, reflection of an issue that affects us all.
Blower the artist is a 69year-old blacksmith from Byron Bay whose children have been forced to leave the tourist town as soaring house prices have wiped out the possibility of finding an entrylevel home for under $1m.
PropTrack data puts the median house price for Byron at $3.15m, despite levelling off after last year’s astronominal growth.
Australia’s nickname, “the Lucky Country”, is now as ironic as it was when Donald Horne coined the phrase in 1964. It was the title of his book claiming the nation had advanced on the strength of luck alone, rather than any real political or economic direction.
Blower said: “The ability to buy a home or afford rental housing has already become out of reach for many... when will we, with our elected governments and councils, finally come up with real and lasting solutions to the housing crisis in our midst?”
Qld Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk last week announced an October Housing Summit to address urgent issues around housing and the cost of living, with the aim of fostering a collaborative approach between all levels of government.
“Nothing is more important than having a roof over your head – it’s a basic need – and the stories of people without secure housing are heartbreaking,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
There’s talk of unlocking land supply and fast-tracking social housing and build-torent projects.
But also, concern that we manage growing communities with respect rather than rush ahead with more urban sprawl with no consideration of the social consequences.
Strata Community Association Qld general manager Laura Bos said releasing more land on the urban fringe “missed the point”.
“Reframing what a home is will be important for us all going forward. We are learning that we can’t have it all – urban sprawl is coming at too greater cost in terms of environmental and affordability issues,” Ms Bos said.
“In fact, the lifestyle you can have living in a community title scheme is so much more than you may have been able to afford if your only focus is the traditional housing block.
“We need to be building compact cities with good walkability and access to jobs, services and public transport. The focus should be for all councils across the south-east on developing strata in existing urban areas,” she said.
On the Gold Coast, beachside suburbs like Mermaid Beach, Burleigh Heads and Palm Beach were primed for future vertical neighbourhoods, serviced by good infrastructure as the light rail comes on line.
Real Estate Institute of Queensland CEO Antonia Mercorella said the solution has to be multi-pronged, incorporating foresight but, importantly, urgent action.
“There’s probably two priority areas from our perspective. The first is developing a longer-term plan that contemplates our growing population to ensure that housing supply keeps pace with that growth,” Ms Mercorella said.
“But the reality is, it’s not realistic to say, let’s just build some new houses. That will take time, so what we should be looking at is what kind of immediate solution can we unlock today.”
This meant incentivising empty-nesters to downsize, therefore freeing up larger homes for families in need; as well as encouraging homeowners to rent out unused rooms, or offer up lock-andleave holiday homes to the permanent, rather than short-term, rental pool.
For the record, Blower said the eye-popping multimillion dollar price for his tent was, “fully negotiable”.
“Well, it is full ocean view at Currumbin, I figured that was about right,” he quipped.
But he’d sell the sculpture for $7000 and donate a third of that to a local charity for the homeless.