When the Portland Memorial Bowling Club in Victoria, Australia, sought housing for its new chef, Anoop Thapliyal, regular customer Ellen Linke stepped up without hesitation. In February 2024, she welcomed Thapliyal into her home without a formal agreement or house rules, relying solely on trust. “I thought, well, if he’s good enough to be employed by them, I think I can offer him a place,” Linke stated.
This spontaneous decision provided Thapliyal with an immediate home base following his journey from Abu Dhabi to rural Victoria. Living with a stranger without a lease did not concern him. “The very first day when I talked to her [Ms Linke], I just realised that she’s a really nice lady, so I was depending on that thing only,” he explained. His wife, Renu, later joined him, and by October, the couple had secured their own rental.
Homesharing as a Solution
Beris Campbell, a pioneer in Australia’s homesharing movement, advocates for more widespread boarding arrangements. She believes such setups can be mutually beneficial, especially when facilitated by professional services. “Being a matchmaker is a very skilled and difficult, challenging situation because you are trying to bring people … to live together,” Campbell noted.
Jacinta Duffy, who runs a business supporting boarding arrangements, particularly in regional areas, echoed this sentiment. She believes her father could have extended his time at home if boarding had delayed his transition to residential care. “I’m swamped with people who want to be home companions,” Duffy said. “The need is so much there for people who are seeking housing full stop, let alone affordable housing and housing that’s well-located.”
A Potential Answer to the Housing Crisis?
According to census analysis by Queensland University of Technology’s Lyndall Bryant, Australia has 13 million spare bedrooms. Bryant, who leads the university’s Housing Security Research Group, argues for a clearer regulatory framework and tax incentives to encourage older Australians to host boarders. “There’s no silver bullet for the housing crisis, but every little piece will help,” she said.
“So even if 1 per cent of those …13 million bedrooms were released to the market, then that’s 130,000 extra bedrooms. That would make a significant difference.”
Despite the federal government’s goal to build 240,000 homes annually until 2029, completion rates are lagging. Reserve Bank of Australia governor Michele Bullock highlighted that the crisis isn’t solely about supply but also “declining household size.” Research by property analyst Cotality in August revealed most houses have at least three bedrooms, yet most households consist of fewer than three people. Eliza Owen, Cotality’s Australian head of research, suggested incentivizing downsizing by abolishing stamp duty, implementing land tax, and including the family home in the pension asset test.
Legal and Regulatory Challenges
However, boarding isn’t without risks. Ben Cording, a lawyer with Tenants Victoria, pointed out the ambiguity in situations not covered by the Victorian Residential Tenancies Act. The Act outlines obligations for renters and landlords but excludes private arrangements like boarding. “The key defining difference for those two things is what’s called exclusive possession,” Cording explained. “There’s a lot of complicated factors that sort of fall into deciding the difference, and this often is not spelt out … really clearly in the legislation, it comes through decisions from the court.”
Cording advocates for amendments to housing laws to protect boarders. “There’s got to be a balance that we want people to be hospitable … but we also want to absolutely make sure that we’re not exposing people who have no other alternative to housing to be exploited,” he said. The Victorian Minister for Housing did not respond to requests for comment.
As Australia grapples with a housing crisis, the call for clearer boarding regulations gains urgency. With millions of spare bedrooms available, experts argue that strategic policy changes could unlock significant housing resources, offering a partial but impactful solution to the nation’s housing challenges.
