By Lleyton Hughes and Neve Surridge

Youth engagement in local council matters is finite in Kiama. Whether it is lack of information, enthusiasm or simply because young people think council matters don’t apply to their everyday lives, it’s something that needs attention. 

That’s the reason why The Bugle hosted the first Youth Forum meeting with Kiama Community Radio on Thursday, 29 August. The discussion provided hope for the future of young people represented in politics. 

Three councillor-candidates attended the session, including; Imogen Draisma, incumbent Deputy Mayor and Labor Councillor, Kane Presland, fourth on Matt Brown’s independent group ballot and Harrison Ledger, fourth on the Labor party ballot. 

Jordan-Casson Jones, second on the Greens party ballot, was also going to attend but got called away to assist with an active bushfire. He was given the same questions as the other candidates but replied to them individually.

Housing affordability

Housing affordability is a known issue in Kiama, especially for young renters who are met with a fraught process of minimal available housing and of those available, far above a feasible weekly price. 

Cr Draisma highlighted the current situation of shared housing in the town, “at the moment you're at the behest of the market where there are multi-bedroom places in Kiama so you have to pair up with quite a few people to get your foot in the door for a rental.”

“Good housing needs to be diverse. It's about utilising existing stock,” Cr Draisma continued.

Ledger agreed with the approach, “I think we have to have these intergenerational concerns in our brain. When we have these huge barriers, not just financial but logistical, of getting young people housing and a roof over their head.”

Short term rentals

Cr Draisma also confirmed that the current council was in talks with the state government to have short-term rental applications (STRA’s) regulated. All three were in agreement that there needed to be controls implemented to limit these STRA’s.

Casson-Jones discussed the need to preserve the environment when looking at future housing developments in the area.

“There is an amount of housing that needs to be built to ease the pressure, but we also understand that the environment and fertile land around Jamberoo and west Kiama [that] needs to be preserved,” said Casson-Jones.

“A lot of people I’m aware of will sign a six-month lease between March and October, and then will get kicked out for the summer so that the homeowners can make big bank over the summer period and then repeat,” Presland said.

Six percent of properties in Kiama are registered as short-term accommodation, only falling slightly behind the eight per cent registered in Byron Bay. 

Casson-Jones has felt the immediate effects of short stay accommodation in the region, he currently lives between two Airbnb properties himself.

“Short stay accommodation has put pressure on the housing market, as coined by the University of Wollongong as the ‘Airbnb effect’ where rents in regional and tourist centres have gone up from about $550 a week in 2020 to $800 a week in 2022.”

“It changes the tenor of the places, as the services change from servicing a residential domestic population to servicing tourists… The Kiama Greens acknowledges that and highlights in our campaign the need to investigate the policies to free up holiday rentals,” Casson-Jones said.

Presland commented on the wealth generated by these short-stays and Airbnbs being used outside of Kiama, “their profits aren’t redistributed to people in the community and they’re more distributed towards shareholders in that group who aren’t necessarily from Kiama.”

Kiama nightlife

Nightlife is another core concern for young people in the area, with the social areas limited and new business owners fearing closure due to noise complaints, which Council manages.

“Everything hits the snooze button [at 4pm] and there’s nothing for anyone to do,” Cr Draisma said. 

The special entertainment precinct, launched with a petition this July, is an initiative Cr Draisma and incumbent Councillor Stuart Larkins have supported.

“Working with state government, Council can identify a particular area in our town centre, which means they can operate louder, sound is permissible, music is permissible… There needs to be real opportunities for artists to occupy spaces,” Draisma said.

Whilst all attendees were in agreement that there is work to be done in the nightlife scene, Presland commented on being cautious of going too far.

“It’s a real challenge because we need to attract people to that nightlife. But we also need to think about how far we want to go with this because you look at Noosa and Byron Bay and they have great nightlife but at the cost of the town being run out by other people,” Presland said.

The forum ran for an hour, with other topics discussed including mental health support services and supporting youth engagement in local council. To watch the full meeting, go to The Bugle's YouTube channel.

If you are a young person in Kiama and you are passionate about the town and have ideas that you want to express, please email The Bugle at: [email protected].

Stay tuned for the next announcements surrounding the Youth Forum.