Elderly being encouraged to rent spare rooms to international students
LOS ANGELES: Encouraging the elderly to rent their spare rooms to international students tax-free has been raised as an option to help relieve housing stress by members of a high-level panel chaired by Education Minister Jason Clare.
The Council for International Education, which is co-convened by Labor MP Julian Hill and has input from several cabinet ministers and industry heads, is mulling the idea as a post-COVID surge in student arrivals adds to pressure on an already strained rental market.
“Let’s be clear – international students are not the cause of Australia’s housing problems,” Hill said. “That said, we must examine all ideas to expand and better utilise housing stock. Homestay for international students used to be a much bigger thing, and it’s a terrific option for people with a spare room to consider.”
Home Affairs Department data shows there were more than 587,000 arrivals of people on student visas in the year to May 31, compared to 837,000 in 2019 before Australia closed its border during the pandemic.
The figures count the number of arrivals rather than the number of students, meaning the same visa holder could be counted entering the country multiple times. More than 520,000 student visas were granted in the year to May 31.
The return of international students to in-person classes helped drive a record net migration intake of 400,000 last financial year, which is expected to fall to 315,000 in 2023-24, and then 260,000 in 2024-25.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil in April announced a crackdown on international student work rights to ensure student visa entrants were primarily coming to Australia to study rather than fuelling a temporary, low-skilled workforce.
A recent Resolve Political Monitor poll found 59 per cent of voters believed the migrant intake was too high.
International Education Association of Australia chief executive Phil Honeywood, who is also a co-convenor of the council, said accommodation had been taken on as a “key priority at both state and federal level”.
Melinda Mackay, who hosts two international students in her West Pennant Hills home in Sydney’s north-west, said the students she had leased rooms to had become part of her family.
“They say it’s like their Aussie home, and that’s how we want to portray it,” Mackay said.
Cris Rey, the general manager of Australian Homestay Network, of which Mackay is a part, said households leasing rooms to international students could be one avenue to help with the housing shortage “as well an opportunity to connect families and help with the current rise of living costs”.
Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said the government should not be “issuing visas like confetti” without a proper plan for where the students would live.
“Particularly when Australians can’t find a home and when they do, they are paying record-high rent,” he said.