Housing News Digest
Housing News Digest
The Tenants' Union Housing News Digest compiles our pick of items from all the latest tenancy and housing media, sent once per week, on Thursdays.
Below is the Digest archive from November 2020 onwards. From time to time you will find additional items in the archive that did not make it into the weekly Digest email. Earlier archives are here, where you can also find additional digests by other organisations.
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Archive
20 people in a two-bedroom apartment: the growing health and safety risks of ‘hot bedding’
Zahra Nasreen The Conversation (No paywall)Rental costs have hit record highs across Australia – in Sydney, for example, tiny two-bedroom apartments can fetch weekly rents well beyond $700. The housing crisis is forcing some people into an impossible choice: homelessness or sharing not just an apartment but a bedroom with strangers. “Hot bedding” – sharing the same beds in overcrowded rooms – has become a common reality for some tenants. For marginalised populations, these housing arrangements become a survival strategy.
https://theconversation.com/20-people-in-a-two-bedroom-apartment…
# Must read NSW, Rent, Share houses.Lower building standards not the solution to Sydney’s housing crisis
Sophie-May Kerr & Philip Oldfield The Fifth Estate (No paywall)A recent Productivity and Equality Commission report on the New South Wales housing supply challenges and policy options argues we need a “pro-housing regulatory environment”. This, the report suggests, can be achieved by relaxing or removing certain apartment design standards, such as minimum sizes, sunlight requirements, minimum balcony sizes, storage requirements and conditions to include larger bedrooms in ‘family-sized’ units. The Productivity Commission suggest “Consumers are well-placed to decide which of these features they are willing to pay for, and which are worth forgoing to live in a more attractive location”.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/columns/spinifex/lower-building-st…
# Must read NSW, .NSW community justice centres will be scrapped next year - it’s enshittification in action
Graeme Gibson The Guardian (No paywall)In life, disagreements, arguments and conflicts are inevitable. But there are options for how we respond. Listening, understanding the other person’s point of view, exploring the options and reality testing are at the heart of a successful resolution to conflict. These are stages in mediation before negotiating an agreement, and this is the process followed by the New South Wales Community Justice Centre (CJC) program since it was established more than 40 years ago. Over that time, this free service has consistently seen success rates of around 80%. Mediators do not make decisions or provide advice; mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution that helps people towards an agreement they make themselves. Unlike a decision made by a magistrate, which creates a win-lose scenario, mediation aims for win-win.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/dec/02/nsw-commu…
# Hot topic NSW, .Two Aussie cities failing at 'incredible' planning tactic being embraced overseas
Michael Dahlstrom Yahoo News (No paywall)After mapping 2.5 million buildings across eight cities including Sydney and Melbourne, researchers have uncovered a worrying problem. The RMIT team was examining how a planning ideal that’s taken route internationally was being embraced in Australia. The concept is called the ‘3-30-300' rule, and it’s seen as essential for human well-being. It states that every home, workplace and school should have the following: A view of at least three trees; Be in a neighbourhood with at least 30 per cent tree canopy cover; Sit within 300 metres of a park.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/two-aussie-cities-failing-at-incredibl…
# Must read Australia, .One in five Australian renters are living without essential items and in poverty, peak body study finds
Paul Johnson ABC (No paywall)One in five Australian private renters are living without two or more essential items, according to a new joint study released by peak body the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), and the University of New South Wales. The study also found that of those Australians renting 22 per cent are living below the poverty line, as the nation's dual housing affordability and cost of living crises continues. For those Australians who are renting social housing, that number is more than 50 per cent, the study released exclusively to 7.30 found.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-26/one-in-five-renters-livin…
# Hot topic Australia, .Renting in Melbourne: Allan government announces big fines, tougher rules on landlords in rental crackdown
Sarah Petty realestate.com.au (No paywall)Victorian landlords are facing hefty fines and tougher rules to increase their rent amid new proposed rental reforms. The Allan government announced Wednesday two new measures on top of a raft of reforms put forward in October — including an end of no-cause evictions and a cost-cap on tenants who break their lease early — as part of a new bill to be introduced in parliament. Individuals and real estate agencies who list a rental property that doesn’t meet the minimum standards set out in the Residential Tenancies Act could face an $11,000 or $59,000 fine, respectively. The Labor government also plans to “expand the list of factors” considered by Consumer Affairs Victoria and the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) when conducting a rent review, designed to “put the breaks on excessive rent increases,” Premier Jacinta Allan said.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/renting-in-melbourne-allan-go…
# Must read Australia, Eviction, Rent.Build to Rent will produce more homes for tenants, but not for those most in need
Hal Pawson The Conversation (No paywall)Part two of the government’s stalled housing legislation finally passed federal parliament on Thursday. The Build to Rent tax reform bill aims to boost investment in apartment blocks designed and constructed for rental occupancy and retained in single ownership. Other than as purpose-built student accommodation, this form of development remains rare in Australia. Instead, our private rental market continues to be dominated by small-scale “mum and dad investors”. Only since around 2017 have Build to Rent projects begun to appear in some Australian capital cities.
https://theconversation.com/build-to-rent-will-produce-more-home…
# Hot topic Australia, .https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/up-90pc-single-rooms-in-sharehouses-soar-to-570-a-week/news-story/29fc4680a4068480a898d796f37e512c?amp=
Samantha Healy news.com.au (No paywall)The cost of renting a single room in a city sharehouse has soared by up to 90 per cent in a year, with tenants paying more than the median weekly rent for an entire house in some outer suburbs and regions. The shock finding was revealed in the annual Flatmates.com.au National Share Accommodation Survey (NSAS) of over 8700 respondents across the country. It revealed that 35 per cent of respondents reported rent increases in the past six months – half of which were higher than anticipated. The biggest year-on-year increase was at Avalon Beach in Sydney, with an average room in a sharehouse now costing a whopping $570 a week - up 90 per cent compared to last year.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/up-90pc-single-rooms…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Share houses.