‘$20k cash to move’: Young couple escape city hell for $150k church

Chelsea Bony and her fiance Connor Menzies gave up on ever owning a home until they upped sticks and moved to Quilpie. Picture: Lauran Gilligan Tired of 4 hours in traffic, working 2 jobs each, a young couple ditched $1m city prices for an Aussie town paying people $20k to relocate – joining a global movement of $1 home schemes. Insane housing prices and a brutal “rent merry-go-round” saw Chelsea Bony and her fiance Connor Menzies give up on ever owning a home – despite saving a deposit, securing a guarantor and having multiple streams of income, they could not reach the minimum threshold to buy at capital city prices. Now they’re among hundreds seeking out better conditions as Australian regional councils look to radical measures to boost their populations – joining global trends seen in Italy’s One Euro home sales, where towns like Sambuca sell abandoned properties for €1 to buyers who commit to renovations, Tulsa’s $10,000 remote worker cash incentive and Topeka, Kansas’s $15,000 relocation grants. The couple bought a former church for $150,000 which they are renovating into their dream home. Picture: Lauran Gilligan Quilpie made global headlines after becoming the first local c...