The Greens (WA) are calling on the Cook Labor Government to immediately implement an urgent moratorium on new unhosted short-stay properties in order to curb their devastating impact on Western Australia\u2019s long-term rental market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Greens housing spokesperson Tim Clifford MLC this morning moved a motion in the Legislative Council urging the government to impose strict controls addressing the unsustainable growth of unhosted short-stays by instating a freeze on new registrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The motion also called for the introduction of a levy on unhosted short-stay properties, which would be funnelled into building social and affordable homes for West Australians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It comes almost a year after the Greens moved a motion in Parliament calling on the Cook Labor Government to introduce a short-stay levy, criticising the government\u2019s short-stay incentive schemes as having completely failed to address the rental crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But since then and in the face of continued inaction, the government\u2019s own data shows the number of AirBnBs in WA is growing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are currently 12,037 AirBnB listings in Western Australia, up from 11,283 in November 2025. The overwhelming majority of these are listed as entire homes or apartments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Research published by Shelter WA earlier this year revealed that there are almost three unhosted AirBnBs for every long-term property available to rent in WA \u2013 a ratio that blows out to a shocking 15 to 1 in regional WA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than half are one- and two-bedroom homes, which are in highest demand among low income households, singles and older people \u2013 the same cohort of West Australians struggling to find affordable rental homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Greens (WA) housing spokesperson Tim Clifford MLC says that the Cook Labor Government must do more to control unhosted short-stays and their impact on WA\u2019s rental affordability crisis. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn the middle of the worst housing crisis in living memory, the Cook Labor Government continues to twiddle its thumbs while unhosted short-stays continue to cannibalise tens of thousands of would-be rental homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAlmost a full year after I first moved a motion on this issue, WA\u2019s rental affordability crisis has gone from bad to worse on WA Labor\u2019s watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRents have continued to skyrocket, homelessness is at crisis levels and a whole generation has given up the dream of being able to afford their own home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYet the Cook Labor Government has effectively washed its hands of the short-stay issue, claiming to have done its job with the introduction of a short-stay register and an investor cash incentive \u2013 both of which have categorically failed to ease pressure on the almost one-third of West Australians who rent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAn immediate freeze on new unhosted short-stays would prevent any further hollowing out of WA\u2019s long-term rental market, as well as helping to minimise further rent spikes spurred by low vacancy rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMeanwhile, an investor levy would generate millions in extra revenue that could be used to build more social and affordable homes, further mitigating the relentless impacts of unhosted AirBnBs on our community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t rocket science. These are simple, necessary and proven reforms that should have been introduced a long time ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cInstead, the Cook Labor Government is too busy ensuring the pockets of wealthy property investors stay as full as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEnough is enough. I\u2019d like to remind them where their responsibility actually lies: providing every West Australian with a safe and secure home.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Greens (WA) are calling on the Cook Labor Government to immediately implement an urgent moratorium on new unhosted short-stay properties in order to curb their devastating impact on Western Australia\u2019s long-term rental market. Greens housing spokesperson Tim Clifford MLC this morning moved a motion in the Legislative Council urging the government to impose strict … Continue reading “Greens WA call for immediate moratorium on new AirBnBs”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40780"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40781,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40780\/revisions\/40781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}