Housing crisis forces locals to live in cars

Port Douglas housing crisis

Jamie Jansen

Journalist

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Port Douglas locals are being forced to live in their cars due to the housing crisis. Image: Jamie Jansen

Port Douglas’ housing crisis has been a ‘hot topic’ for quite some time and the problem seems to be getting worse and worse as the crisis now forces locals to sleep in their cars.

Newsport picked up a post on social media from a worried local saying: “Hey Port Douglas. There are locals up here living in cars. I'm crying for those guys.”

The post attracted much attention with people commenting things such as: “I’ve seen more and more homeless people on my early runs, it saddens me”, and: “This is a very sad critical situation, something needs to be done ASAP”. 

Newsport decided to check these shocking facts and went for a walk around town. Surprisingly, not much effort had to be put into finding a small group of people at the car park, a.k.a their ‘living room’.

“You can’t afford to rent anywhere”, said a Port Douglas local who lives in their car and wishes to remain anonymous.

“I just got out of a rental and I was paying $400 of rent on my own. It is so hard to find something cheaper, something I can actually afford. I also have two dogs which makes it almost impossible to find a rental.”

The person in question works six days a week at a local bar. “I’ve got nowhere to stay when I finish work so I sleep at a carpark with my two dogs.”

Another person at the car park added: “Even if you do rent a place, the maximum lease you’re going to get is three months.

“I have been living and working in Port Douglas for two years now. I’m in a rental at the moment but it runs out in a month, I have no idea what I’m going to do.

“Before I got this rental I couldn’t find anywhere to live so I got stuck at a backpackers. That was a complete nightmare.

“Just right now we were talking about just taking off in the cars and heading towards Airlie Beach, just because we got nowhere to stay in Port Douglas.

“I love it here, don’t get me wrong, I’m trying everything I can to be able to stay.”

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