00:00Bremer Bay's idyllic beaches and stunning wildflowers make the town a tourism drawcard but it's taking a toll, particularly on the town's housing market, leaving business owners like Shire President Joanne Ifler with little choice but to purchase their own workers' accommodation.
00:18If we couldn't find housing within the town, like rentals, we just could not open. So it is a cost of doing business within Bremer Bay.
00:29Many areas across the state are struggling to balance the benefits and challenges of the rise of short-term rentals.
00:35The state government's made it mandatory for all short-term rentals to be registered, creating a nation-leading picture of the state of play.
00:43I think communities will look at their areas and say, have we got too many short-term rentals and should the local government be making further changes?
00:54Would you like to see there be less short-term rentals in the state and in some of those hotspot areas?
01:00Certainly I would absolutely prefer people, particularly in the Perth metro market, but across Western Australia, to swap over to long-term rentals.
01:13The government's offering incentives to try and move properties on to the long-term rental market, and in Perth, any short-term rentals that operate more than 90 nights a year will need local government approval.
01:24In regional areas, though, it's being left up to each council to decide what restrictions to impose.
01:30But ultimately, I think it is a balance, and I think local governments are working through that balance.
01:37A balancing act set to challenge all levels of government for years to come.
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