Margaret River’s beauty hides homeless disaster as property prices boom

On any given night, 290 people turn up for a feed at the Margaret River’s “soupie” in Western Australia’s south-west.

For many people “Margs” is synonymous with good food, big surf, and fine wine.

But since the pandemic hit, people in search of the good life have flooded the property market, pushing people and families out to the fringes.

The town’s problem with homelessness goes largely unseen by tourists as people tend to sleep rough, camping in the bush or on the beach.

Local housing advocate group Just Home said it was difficult to get a full picture of the scale of the problem, but its recent survey found 191 people,…