“Muscle Towns” Rent By The Room
Gladstone Rental Crisis
Arnold Development Consultants (ADC) and developers alike have identified that there is a shortage of housing in Gladstone at present. This is leading to a spike in land value and rentals. Muscle Towns like Gladstone and Mackay are playing catch up to try and supply housing demand generated by the mining boom.
The negative social impacts of this shortage are highlighted by this article.
ADC has now established an office in Gladstone to help service Central Queensland property owners and developers with their land development requirements inclusive of Town Planning Approvals, Land Use Strategies and Subdivision of new land and unit developments.
It is hoped that future land developments will alleviate this housing shortage.
“Muscle Towns” rent by the room
Lisa Griffin | 28th August 2011
The Observer, Gladstone
By-the-room rentals are becoming the next crisis point in Gladstone’s affordable rental shortage, says local campaigner Darlene Mackenzie.
Officially homeless, Darlene is running her Facebook site “Fight Back Gladstone Rental Crisis” from temporary digs at a friend’s place.
She said the ground floor of her former home is being partitioned by the landlord to fit in another renter.
With vacancy rates just 0.6% in the last quarter, by the room rental maximises rental return but removes control over who shares the house.
Demographer Bernard Salt recently called Gladstone one of Australia’s “muscle towns”. Servicing the resource and other industries, housing in muscle towns is difficult and dear.
Today’s muscle towns include Gladstone, Mackay and Townsville, South Australia’s Whyalla, and the west’s Karratha and Port Hedland.
Today’s muscle towns include Gladstone, Mackay and Townsville, South Australia’s Whyalla, and the west’s Karratha and Port Hedland.
Ms Mackenzie is currently working extra shifts at the Young Australian Hotel to help cover the costs of becoming homeless.
“It’s bad enough that we’re homeless,” she said. “Between giving my friends whatever rent I can afford, hiring storage sheds and kennelling the dog, it’s costing us more than what a rental house would be for my son and I under normal circumstances,” she said.
She’s grateful to have a roof over her head: “I know a couple who are camping out now at Calliope River. They’ve both got good jobs, she’s a nurse and he works for a big employer here in town but they couldn’t afford to pay the rent when their lease was up,” she said.
Roseberry Community Services housing manager Karen Battams said the level of people sleeping rough in Gladstone at the moment was “unheard of”
