The impact of an accommodation and housing shortage on the region's tourism and business economy will be discussed at Tuesday night's Tamworth Regional Council meeting.
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Deputy Mayor Judy Coates wants to know what the council can do to help ease the problem.
Her notice of motion will ask the council to identify what the potential accommodation needs (and therefore gaps) will be for the next 6-18 months "by using our calendar of future booked events, and comparing with historical data around past sporting, entertainment and conference events as well as our tourism industry".
She will also propose that council hold a workshop "as a matter of urgency" to discuss what current accommodation options exist and what possible future options there may be, such as home hosting, caravan hire and similar.
In the paper to go before councillors on Tuesday night, Cr Coates says she has recently become aware of a large number of hotel/motel rooms that have been permanently booked for the next 12-18 months to accommodate the construction industry, which she says "raises the question around current and future permanent bookings for accommodation for other industries".
"We have to then add to that the accommodation that is going to be required for the renewable energy projects that will come over the next 1-5 years."
Cr Coates says Tamworth is preparing to host a number of huge sporting events and the NSW Local Government conference later in the year, and she has been advised the city is just about full up.
"Taking that a step further, the pressure will then push down onto those people in our community, who struggle to gain any type of accommodation, who may be sleeping rough, homeless, or couch surfing and are assisted each and every night with temporary accommodation in motels, through organisations such as Homes North, who can be placing as many as 120 people into motel rooms in our area on any given night," Cr Coates says in her motion.
Cr Coates says we need more housing in general for people and families wanting to have a tree change to Tamworth; more social and affordable housing; temporary worker accommodation for example for construction and renewable energy projects; options for temporary accommodation so that the event and tourism accommodation options remain available; more accommodation for FIFO/DIDO essential workers; and we need to ensure we retain an appropriate level of visitor accommodation options.
Tamworth Regional Council will next meet on Tuesday, March 26.
Fiona Ferguson
I work for the Northern Daily Leader across the Peel Valley. We cover local news, community stories and rural issues that impact the New England, North West and Northern Tablelands regions.
I work for the Northern Daily Leader across the Peel Valley. We cover local news, community stories and rural issues that impact the New England, North West and Northern Tablelands regions.
