Dadpour, Rana, Law, Lisa, and Osbaldiston, Nick (2024) Paradise lost? Rental housing insecurity and the lived experiences of amenity migrants in Cairns, Australia. Australian Planner, 60 (1). pp. 58-71.

Preview

PDF (Published Version) - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

This paper explores the housing experiences of amenity migrants, focusing on the challenges of rental housing insecurity in Cairns, Australia. Through episodic narrative interviews with a purposive sample of 27 amenity migrants who moved to Cairns between 2016 and 2021, we explore how housing insecurity affects their life satisfaction and consider the implications for urban planning and policy. Our findings reveal that many amenity migrants in Cairns face significant challenges in navigating the rental housing market, which negatively impacts their sense of belonging and overall life satisfaction. Participants reported struggles with rental housing affordability, suitability, and availability, which often led to compromises in their living conditions and a sense of frustration and uncertainty. These challenges were found to have significant impacts on their mental well-being, social integration, and overall quality of life. Importantly, the study reveals that housing insecurity can prompt amenity migrants to consider re-migration as a coping strategy, as they seek more stable and affordable housing options elsewhere. We argue that planners must take a proactive role in addressing housing challenges in regional cities like Cairns, through the development of inclusive and responsive housing policies that cater to the diverse needs of amenity migrants.

Item ID:	84143
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	2150-6841
Keywords:	amenity migration; Cairns; rental market; housing; quality of life
Copyright Information:	© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Date Deposited:	21 Nov 2024 00:11
FoR Codes:	44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4410 Sociology > 441013 Sociology of migration, ethnicity and multiculturalism @ 50% 44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4406 Human geography > 440607 Population geography @ 50%
SEO Codes:	15 ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK > 1502 Macroeconomics > 150202 Demography @ 100%
	More Statistics