Posted April 10, 2018 13:03:28

Photo: The Government estimates 110 households will be helped into rentals. (Flickr: Warrick Wayne)

The Tasmanian Government will pay homeowners up to $13,000 if they make their properties available to low-income renters, in a new bid to address the state's housing crisis.

And in a major shift, new Housing Minister Roger Jaensch seems to be leaving the door open to regulating the short-term accommodation led by Airbnb.

Mr Jaensch today announced an incentive package to match low-income households with suitable, affordable accommodation while providing landlords with a payment of between $10,000 and $13,000, depending on where their property is.

"We're trying to introduce more low-income households to affordable ways into the private rental market," he said.

"And we're trying to introduce the private property owners to the idea of making their properties available for long-term rental to low-income families."

Mr Jaensch said the incentive package would give landlords a guaranteed payment of rent for at least one year.

"The idea here is we can make use of more of the privately owned rental accommodation in Tasmania and make it available to more of the low-income families who are under housing stress now," he said.

"We estimate that it can help 110 households into affordable accommodation."

The $1.6 million pilot program will run from next month until June next year and will be reviewed in March.

Hobart currently has a rental vacancy rate of just 0.3 per cent — so if there were 1,000 rental properties on the market, only three would be available.

The impact of short-stay accommodation, such as Airbnb, on the private rental market is not fully understood, but welfare groups, including the Tenants' Union, have said it has contributed to the present shortage.

The Government has previously ruled out restrictions on Airbnb and Stayz.

But Mr Jaensch is now only saying that new circumstances mean the Government is researching the impact of short-stay accommodation on the housing market.

"What I'm saying is that we need to understand the whole market and all of the forces that are at work on it and we're gathering that data now," he said.

Topics: government-and-politics, housing-industry, housing, hobart-7000, tas