2022-11-14 GC Agenda - Item 4 - Attachment 1 - Short Term Accommodation Monitoring Report 2022

Historically, the use of detached house for short-term use was not a problem, as they were
few, managed by agents or used as holiday homes and generally not let for commercial gain.
They were scattered mostly throughout the beach or river areas with little impact on residential
amenity, housing supply or affordability.
With the explosion of online booking platforms like Airbnb, the short-term use of detached
houses became an investment proposition and rapidly spread throughout the Detached
Housing Zone, mainly in the coastal areas but also in more remote communities such as
Boreen Point, Teewah and other parts of Noosa North Shore. As the use of houses for short-
term accommodation increased, housing supply for residents was affected as was housing
affordability. Whilst most of these dwellings were removed from the permanent rental market,
some properties were offered for intermittent longer stays of 3 + months to permanent
residents then returned to short-term letting in high seasons. It also impacted residential
amenity, some streets significantly.
Short-term rental income outperformed the income from long term rental investment properties
and provided owners a fully furnished holiday house to use between commercial short-term
lets. This became particularly popular with interstate owners or those from Brisbane.
From a housing supply and monitoring perspective, the interchangeable use of detached
houses for use by either visitors or residents hampered the ability to measure both existing
and future housing stock to meet the housing needs of residents and the supply of tourist
accommodation.
This interpretation and application of the detached house definition also lead to long term
consequences with properties operating short-term accommodation enjoying existing use
rights beyond the life of NP2006.


2.6.5.2 Multiple housing
Prior to NP2006 coming into effect, a “multiple dwelling” allowed for interchangeable use for
long term occupation by permanent residents or short-term use by visitors. Given most units
were approved prior to NP2006, the majority of units (apartments, villas, townhouses, flats) in
Noosa have interchangeable use rights for both permanent and short-term visitor
accommodation.
These interchangeable use rights have resulted in buildings complexes and resorts
accommodating both permanent residents and visitors, often creating landuse conflict. This
also lead to an unknown quantum of housing stock at any time for permanent residents or
visitors, with dwellings moving between permanent and short-term visitor use without further
planning approval. In addition, resort operators with onsite management rights had concerns
about changing letting pool stock and complaints from onsite permanent residents impacted
by visitors.
Some larger resort sites were specifically approved for visitor accommodation and conditioned
to short-term occupation less than 3 months at the exclusion of permanent residents. However
due to the lack of permanent residential supply, some units were occupied by permanent
residents attempting to get around the maximum 3 month visitor stay.
NP2006 introduced a new definition for multiple housing which removed the inclusion of visitor
accommodation from the definition. Consequently, multiple housing approvals issued under
NP2006 were for permanent residents only. This was a positive move towards eliminating the
potential conflict between visitors and permanent residents in new development and protected
future multiple housing stock for permanent residents. However, the number of approvals
issued were few as a percentage of overall housing stock. There were however a small number
of approvals issued allowing for both multiple housing and visitor accommodation.
Notably the Multiple Housing definition was inclusive of accommodation units, which by
definition are not self contained.

                                                                                          pg. 56
Noosa Council Monitoring Report 2022/23