2021-12-13 GC Agenda - Item 8 -Attachment 1 - Housing Needs Assessment

Figure 33 Departures from Australia of Non-Australian Citizens




Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Overseas Travel Statistics, Provisional June 2021
Noosa Shire has a number of approved backpacker hostels, notably at Noosa Heads and Sunshine
Beach with a new one recently constructed at Noosaville. Some hotels also cater to the budget
accommodation market as well. During COVID these establishments have continued to operate but
with reduced allowable capacity. Some operators have been providing longer term accommodations
to local residents who would otherwise struggle to find housing. In some instances, this is through
subsidisation by a local charity.
Some travellers who have obtained work locally meet at hostels and move out together into share
accommodation in the rental market, if not in Noosa, then further down the coast.
Given the reduction in travellers and the lack of affordable housing for key workers it may be prudent
to allow these hostels to operate in part or in full as rooming accommodation. This could be done as
a temporary trial for 6 months or 12 months initially to monitor any impacts on the neighbourhood.
It’s not clear what would happen to residents when international borders are open again.
There are noticeable differences in the infrastructure charges applied to a backpacker's hostel
compared to rooming accommodation, and to the number of carparking spaces required.
Schedule 16 of the Planning Regulation states a prescribed (maximum) charge for Rooming
Accommodation to be twice the rate of that for Short-term accommodation.
Carparking requirements for a backpacker's hostel assume that most guests do not have a private
car. Therefore, only one space is required per 12 guests capable of being accommodated, plus one
per staff member plus a space for a shuttle bus. By contrast rooming accommodation requires one
space per two bedrooms, plus one for a manager in residence if applicable.
Rooming accommodation will typically have just one or two residents per bedroom whereas a hostel
under full capacity (not reduced COVID capacity) could have eight or more guests in some
bedrooms. The easiest rooms to transition from short-term to longer term occupants will be those
with their own ensuite. Figure 34 below shows examples of the private ensuite rooms at Bounce
Noosa in Mary Street.




Noosa Housing Needs Assessment 2021                                                          Page 122