'It's hard to employ people when there is nowhere for them to live'
Queensland employers and businesses have recently expressed their growing concern over the state’s “widespread housing crisis” as they continue to face growth disruptions, adding that it “puts pressure on the labour force.”
According to a media release, Chambers from Bowen, Caloundra, Canungra, Gladstone, Goondiwindi, Hills and Districts, Kilcoy, Kingaroy, Logan, Redlands and Stradbroke Island have met with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland (CCIQ) and discussed the impact of the housing crisis on the state’s business sector and their respective regions.
Through CCIQ policy and advocacy general manager Amanda Rohan, the Chambers noted that regional Queensland businesses were “disproportionately impacted,” highlighting that their recent data found “skill and labour shortages across the majority of industry sectors; especially in rural, regional and remote Queensland.” These shortages pushed businesses to “attempt to offset a reduction in staff availability through higher wages.”
“The housing crisis is wide-spread and in some regions the impact on local businesses is critical,” Rohan said.
“A lack of housing accessibility in those regions makes it all the more difficult for the right skills to relocate to the right places, when and where they’re needed most. It means businesses and the communities which rely on them will struggle to trade day-to-day and plan to be competitive, resilient and diversified long-term,” Rohan added.
During the meeting, different regions also had the opportunity to highlight their urgent concerns. For example, Stradbroke Island raised that they were having “a tough time getting suitably experienced and qualified staff due to the dearth of accommodation available,” Straddie Chamber of Commerce President Colin Battersby said in the media release.
“Not only are there a lack of accommodation options for seasonal staff needed to service the tourism sector, but permanent rental options have dried up for existing residents and many have been forced to leave the island all together,” Battersby said.
“This is a tragedy for our small tight-knit community with many long-term residents including young families leaving. In many ways it is this exodus that is the most distressing with the social effects long lasting and potentially permanent,” Battersby added.
Meanwhile, over in Gladstone, its Chamber of Commerce and Industry Committee President Joe Smith said skilled workers could not relocate to the region “due to limited rental property availability, while lower income earners were forced out of the community due to increasing rental prices.”
And in Logan, the aftermath of COVID-19 and its consequences across industries are very much felt, much like in other places. Their Regional Chamber of Commerce President Chyerl Pridham said housing had been unaffordable for many people for the last 12 months. “COVID played havoc with people's ability to work and pay for mortgages or rent,” she said.
As of date, CCIQ has joined peak groups in “uniting” for an “unprecedented call” for a National Housing Summit.
