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Tuesday 21 February 2023
For all advertising and editorial needs, call 03 5974 9000 or email: team@mpnews.com.au www.mpnews.com.au Trapeze act: Zac Lowe and Finnlay Meijer from Safety Beach Sailing Club make battling the rough weather look easy during the annual Schnapper Point Regatta at Mornington.
Weather test sailors’ skills WILD weather made for competitive sailing in Mornington Yacht Club’s annual Schnapper Point Regatta over the weekend. Since its inception 25 years ago the regatta has provided race experience for young sailors leading into the state championships. Adults joined in to take advantage of the high standards and a junior event was also run to help build race experience for young sailors. For this year’s event the local fleet was joined by sailors from Geelong, Cairn Curran, Indented Head and Gippsland. Conditions over the two days were challenging for many, with winds in excess of 20 knots limiting times when races could be held. Some of the juniors were given the alternative of participating in onshore activities.
Landlords stay put as communities ‘eroded’ Liz Bell liz@mpnews.com.au MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council’s call for Airbnb owners to open up properties for long-term rental has largely fallen on deaf ears, with few owners taking their properties off the holiday rental market. In a desperate attempt to resolve the shire’s rental shortages, the shire sent emails and letters to property owners over summer to encourage them to switch from offering short-term holi-
day leases to longer-term leases. The mayor Cr Steve Holland said it was hard for the council to know exactly how many people responded to the appeal to holiday home owners, as they were asked to contact real estate agents directly. “However, we fielded about 10 inquiries from people interested in listing their place and connected them with either an agent or local support service,” he said. There are about 4000 people on the public housing waiting list and around 1000 sleeping rough, according to
the council, but close to 5000 vacant private properties on the peninsula available only for short stays (as of 17 February, 2023, Inside Airbnb). Real estate agents say renters are inquiring daily about vacancies. Stockdale & Leggo Dromana/ Rosebud rental manager Danielle Bickerdike said the end of summer holidays saw a small number of homes being put back onto the longerterm rental market until next summer, but no more than happens every year at the end of the season. The peninsula’s rental squeeze
hit the national news last week, after Mount Martha resident Kellie Langeliers spoke to The Age and the ABC about the community impact of turning residential areas into “commercial profit centres”. Langeliers is part of a growing movement of business owners and welfare groups calling on authorities to curb the growth of the short-stay rental market. She said communities were suffering due to the lack of permanency in the populations of holiday hot spots, with family homes continually being
turned into Airbnbs because of the high rents. “The growth in short stay accommodation is eroding communities, there are fewer permanent residents so it’s hard to get volunteers, it’s hard to get staff, it’s hard to develop a caring community,” she said. Langeliers said the peninsula should have learned from other tourist hotspots like Byron Bay and even overseas, where tourist towns service the wealthy and become “soulless” because of the transience of the population. Continued Page 10