Stanthorpe Members challenged to find housing in a town of no vacancy

Stanthorpe residents are getting an icy reception as Queensland’s coldest town, getting frozen out of the housing market entirely as the region hits a rental vacancy rate of zero. 

The Southern Downs town saw a 24 per cent increase in rental costs in the last 12 months – the second highest in the country behind Riverwood in NSW, according to suburb trends’ Rental Pain Index report. 

St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland St Joseph’s Stanthorpe Conference President Ros Day said local Members have been seeing an incredible increase in calls for help around town. 

"Since October last year we’ve seen a huge increase in Companions asking for help,” she said. 

“The average amount of funds we use to help people with groceries has more than doubled. 

“People are living in tents and we cannot find accommodation for them – there are no affordable options left.” 

According to the Rental Pain Index report, Stanthorpe currently has a rental vacancy rate of zero – the lowest in Queensland.  

“We can’t even find spaces at caravan parks anymore; I’ve never seen it this bad,” Ms Day said 

“A big problem is that we have homes here sitting empty – I know of 300+ dwellings in the area that are AirBNBs that just sit empty most of the time.  

“We’ve been supporting Companions to find options out of town but not all of them have transport. The best we can do most of the time is to sustain people with food, clothing, bedding and sometimes tents.” 

Ms Day said despite the struggles, Conference Members were still working to help locals as much as they could. 

“There was a family of six living in a tent I was supporting that have finally managed to find a home,” she said.