After a 10-year campaign the 60-Day Cap on Short Term Rental Accommodation (STRA) in Byron Shire kicks in this week and we are the only community in NSW to have this legal capacity to rein in holiday lets in our community. Well done us!

But of course, some of the big international corporations and property investors that have profited while we have got deeper and deeper into a housing crisis are not happy about it and want it to fail. They will keep repeating the mantra that we need thousands of whole homes on accommodation sites in Byron to meet tourist demand, but five hotels are being built in Byron Bay as I write to you!

People are suffering across the state from crazy rent rates and a lack of rental availability, and it is my hope that our trial will lead the way by example in the re-establishment of community amenity and the prioritisation of homes for those who have become vulnerable in the housing market due to the rise of STRA – families, older people, workers, single mothers, and low-income earners. Rentals in Byron will not be affordable for most, but it sets the tone for the future when we attract permanent residents to our shire and hopefully over time the rental market improves. 

From this week, Byron Shire will have a 60-Day Cap on all non-hosted STRA lodgings apart from two precincts in Byron Bay and Brunswick Heads, where no cap will apply.

To find out where your home sits in the STRA areas, click on the link below for the Byron Shire Council Maps: 

https://www.byron.nsw.gov.au/Development-Business/Land-Use-Zoning/Short-Term-Rental-Accommodation

Having campaigned since 2015 with the community we have now succeeded where no other community in NSW has before – we have the unique power to regulate the number of whole homes available for short term rental in Byron Shire and what we should see are more homes coming onto the long term residential rental market.

But we need your help! If you live next to or near an STRA and you have experienced the downsides to having different neighbours every week and you now have a permanent neighbour and it has changed your life, please reach out to us so we can amplify the good that this change will bring to our community. Because make no mistake – the big corps want us to fail.

You can use this form to tell us your story or email us [email protected] or give us a call on 66867522.

Tell us your story