Councillors need better counciling!

Hi All!

Thanks heaps for you support and please keep sharing! We are tantalisingly close to 500 signatures(484) and then our petition really starts having to be reckoned-with and noticed 'officially'.

Yesterday, I was having a grass-roots meeting with other disgruntled (that was the word we settled on!) Airbnb Hosts at the Surf Club, as you do, and we bumped into a Sunshine Coast Councillor (unluckily for them!) Who very kindly came and had a few words. It was an unscheduled meeting so they did not have much time (lucky for them!) I don't think they were ready for the firestorm that was unleashed!

Unfortunately, we had ready debunkings for every excuse they came up with:

1 'Parity with other Councils'. No just parity with the most rapacious Council, Gold Coast, which has a very different life-style with all their high-rises. Adjacent Councils (Gympie, Somerset, Redlands) don't gouge Airbnb.

2 'Housing Crisis'. No, this has been scholarly debunked - twice! The Councillor didn't know. Tourism and and low-cost long term rental do not over-lap - of course.

3 'Tourism Costs'. No, SCC has returned 8 consecutive budget surpluses, er...

4 'Empty Houses'. No, gouging Airbnb will not put these partially or empty homes on the long term rental market. Some people just will not accept long term tenants in their second homes or granny flats and would rather keep them empty rather than have a long-term tenant.

Where did agree was that there needed to be a lot more low cost budget homes on the Sunshine Coast, only, SCC will not allow planning permission for these outcomes.. Doh.

The truth is that there is no credible or justifiable excuse for this money grab. Its closing down tourist accommodation, in direct contradiction to SCC Regional Economic Development Strategy Report, where they state short term rental is exactly what they need more of. 

I think SCC's left hand should talk to the right! 

C'mon 500!

Thanks again and keep sharing!

pip