Priced out: Coffs Harbour grapples with a deepening housing crisis
Advocates says the demand for affordable housing needs "out of the box" thinking.
Ellie Chamberlain
May 15, 2025
With rising rental prices and a dwindling housing supply, communities on the Mid North Coast are facing a mounting crisis: those who have lived and worked in the region for years are being pushed out.
With support services overwhelmed and affordable rentals harder to find, local advocates in Coffs Harbour say it's time for new solutions before things get even worse.
The Mid North Coaster spoke to Anna Joy, from Coffs Harbour Neighbourhood Centre, and Rose West, from not-for-profit organisation Housing Matters Action Group, who both believe the demand for affordable accommodation is growing rapidly and “out of the box” thinking is needed.
“Not that many places that would be considered affordable”
Coffs Harbour Neighbourhood Centre (CHNC) provides a range of support services to the community, prioritising those who are disadvantaged, vulnerable and marginalised.
The centre also provides a low cost rental list resource on its website that lists properties available for under $450 in Coffs Harbour, Nambucca and Bellingen LGAs.
Anna Joy, Coordinator of CHNC, told the Mid North Coaster the list was put together in response to the growing number of people unable to find affordable rentals in Coffs.
“People come here because they are struggling to find somewhere that they can afford,” said Joy. “There's not that many places that would be considered affordable [in Coffs Harbour], and certainly not for a lot of the people that we see who are on income support payments.”
Joy said the increasing cost of essential items like utilities, food and school expenses is making it “harder and harder for people to look at an affordable rental.”
When the resource was first introduced, the listings included were $300 or less.
“Over time we've realised we need to increase that because there were so few properties that were available for less than $300 a week,” Joy said.
The majority of the cheapest options are one bedroom units, cabins and granny flats.
Short-term stays just a temporary lifeline
In addition to rental listings, the centre also shares a short term accommodation guide, which includes caravan parks and motels – often as a last resort.
“It might be that people can only afford to pay one or two nights before they then have to look at another alternative,” Joy said.
“We do have lots of people experiencing homelessness and sometimes if they have the means to pay one or two nights, we can find them some temporary accommodation.”
“We've had families that have been told that their rent is going up by 100 percent, so it's being doubled and they just can't afford to live in their house because it's going to be too much of a stretch with their income.”
Rent going up, while income stays the same
Joy said the fundamental issue is that rent is rising at a greater rate than people’s income.
“Because rent is not coming down… it's going up at a rate that is greater than people are receiving from an income support payment and sometimes in relation to the wages that they're earning.”
Another compounding factor is the increase in new residents to the region. Many move to the Mid North Coast expecting homes would be easier to secure – only to find the situation to be the opposite. Those who have found a home on the Mid North Coast likely moved during or just after the pandemic. Joy said the rise in remote work has made the MNC a hotspot for city workers looking to get more bang for the buck – but driving rental prices up while doing so.
New solutions needed
Joy said Coffs Harbour and surrounds need an increase in options.
“We need more accommodation, we need more homes that are affordable and we need more social housing,” she said.
Joy points to partnership models like Watson Place, an affordable housing development for women 55 years-and-older facing homelessness, as something worth replicating. Watson Place is set at a former aged care facility, converted to 23 one-bedroom affordable apartments in Bellingen Shire.
Older women at the frontlines of the crisis
The Watson Project was born from a Needs Mapping Project by Housing Matters Action Group (HMAG) that identified older, single women as a vulnerable group facing increasing rates of homelessness, housing insecurity and displacement.
Rose West, Coordinator at HMAG, said while there is responsibility on the government for solutions, waiting would not bring about the urgent action needed. While Watson Place is a solution, the demand for affordable housing remains.
“I do, from time to time, get people reaching out, wanting to join the waitlist, and I have to refer them on. So there's obvious demand,” West told the Mid North Coaster.
“We have older single women…experiencing extreme housing stress and some of them are already living in their cars or couch surfing with friends. So the demand outstrips the supply.”
“Out of the box” thinking needed
West said there is a cohort out there who need more projects like Watson Place to come online. For that to happen, unused buildings and land need to be looked at.
“We think it's a really important solution, particularly for regional Australia. We know that most towns have a bank corner building that has been closed down or some kind of community infrastructure that's no longer being used,” she said.
“This streetscape can be revitalised by repurposing some of our older buildings for affordable housing.”
The crisis is here and now
The supply of affordable and social housing is under pressure post-COVID.
“We've had this influx of cashed-up residents who are able to secure rentals or enter home ownership that local people on local incomes are being locked out of,” West said.
“We need to see some out of the box thinking because it's here. The crisis is here. We don't really have a lot of time.”
West says the government and the private sector need to continue to partner in the way they did to create the Watson Place project.
What is being done in local government
The City of Coffs Harbour council recognises the supply of affordable housing and social housing is insufficient to meet demand.
Through its Affordable Housing Policy, the council is focusing on partnerships and advocacy with government and community housing providers to deliver affordable housing.
As per the policy, the council is looking to both state and federal governments to develop and implement policy positions that improve the supply of affordable housing.
The area’s Affordable Housing Strategy is to encourage and facilitate the funding and delivery of affordable housing by appropriate organisations, with a target to deliver 2,215 additional affordable housing dwellings – including social housing– by 2041.
“Not everybody can afford to buy a home”
State member for Coffs Harbour, Gurmesh Singh said the Labor government had been slow to set targets for housing up and down the north coast while the demand is increasing.
Currently, the Minns NSW Government has a low and mid-rise policy that will aim to deliver 112,000 homes across the state, however this plan mostly focuses on the Hunter, Illawarra-Shoalhaven, metro Sydney and Central Coast regions.
“We’re seeing a really slow rollout of the government's housing and social housing plan on the north coast and more and more people are choosing the north coast as a home,” Singh told the Mid North Coaster.
“When demand starts out stripping supply, prices go up and what it means is that our kids are at risk of not being able to afford to live in coastal regional towns and that used to be the place where you could get cheap homes.”
Singh would like to see less requirements by state and local governments to make it easier for people to build homes.
“Often people like me will get criticised for being pro-development, but at the end of the day, if we want cheaper homes and we want to increase our population, then we have to build more homes. Not everybody can afford to buy a home.”
How to access housing help
Pete’s place, Coffs Harbour, call 0438 931 201
Thumbnail: Unsplash, Sheldon Ikin.