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
Free legal service Regional Alliance West flooded by new clients hit by cost of living crisis
Brianna Melville ABC (No paywall)More than 150 people across Western Australia's Midwest region have been turned away from free legal help, as unprecedented numbers of people seek assistance. Not-for-profit organisation Regional Alliance West (RAW) has accepted 458 cases of people and families in need in the six months to July this year, but has been forced to turn away 146 others. Operations manager Chris Gabelish said many of the cases turned away were families, so the actual number of people going without help was higher. RAW is based in Geraldton, 400 kilometres north of Perth.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-19/regional-alliance-west-le…
# Must read Australia, .Residents of tiny NT community of Santa Teresa living in uninhabitable homes could wait years for compensation, court hears
Roxanne Fitzgerald ABC (No paywall)Despite a landmark legal win, residents of the tiny remote community of Santa Teresa who have had to live in uninhabitable homes without electricity, hot water or functioning toilets may have to wait years before they're awarded compensation, a court has heard. WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the name of an Indigenous person who has died. The Eastern Arrernte community of Ltyentye Apurte, also known as Santa Teresa, in Central Australia has been fighting their landlord – the Northern Territory government — for safe and legal housing since 2015.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-15/nt-court-of-appeal-remote…
# Must read Australia, Aboriginal renters, Public and community housing.Landlord superprofits: Rent spikes to $131k a year
Sophie Foster realestate.com.au (No paywall)Short term landlords are raking in super profits in 13 key local councils, with median rent hitting a shock high of $131k – more than the majority of Aussie wages. New independent research by Australian-based Grounded Community Land Trust Advocacy found that was the short term rental gross median rent in the Whitsundays – with net rent coming to $85,475 – the highest of 13 key tourism suburbs it analysed. It found short term landlords were earning super profits across Noosa Heads, Hepburn Shire, Mornington Peninsula, Byron Bay, Fremantle, Victor Harbor, Hobart, Coolum Beach, Port Douglas, the Whitsundays, Warburton, and Apollo Bay, charging 80.9 per cent more than long term rentals there.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/airbnb-superprofits-rent-spik…
# Must read Australia, Rent.Australia needs permanent supportive housing to end homelessness – and it will pay for itself
Cameron Parsell The Conversation (No paywall)Australia needs to provide permanent supportive housing for many reasons. The most compelling reason is simple: it permanently ends homelessness for our most marginalised citizens. Permanent supportive housing combines affordable housing with health and social services for people for whom mainstream systems do not work. It’s an evidence-informed approach that ends homelessness for people who are so excluded from opportunities and mainstream institutions that basic principles of citizenship barely exist for them.
https://theconversation.com/australia-needs-permanent-supportive…
# Must read Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Security and safety.Homelessness peak bodies accuse state gov of selling public land that should be used for building social housing
Sarah Petty realestate.com.au (No paywall)Victoria’s homelessness peak bodies have accused the state government of selling public land to private developers when they should be building more social housing. A site at 18a Miller St, Preston has been picked to be part of the state government’s Small Sites pilot program which is looking for developers to deliver 260 homes across Miller St and three other sites, with only 10 per cent allocated to affordable housing.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/homelessness-peak-bodies-accu…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing.Homeless man reoffends after asking for two-year jail term amid housing shortage
Brianna Melville ABC (No paywall)A homeless man who asked for an immediate jail term due to a lack of available housing in Western Australia reoffended hours after he was released into the community. During sentencing on Monday, David Ambrosius, 48, had asked for two years in jail for starting a fire at the abandoned Batavia Motor Inn in Geraldton last year. Ambrosius asked to be imprisoned, citing the lack of housing and support services available in the Midwest region. He told the Geraldton District Court he would reoffend if he was released.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-20/geraldton-wa-homeless-man…
# Must read Australia, .State Government Airbnb incentive lures 17 home owners across Augusta-Margaret River and City of Busselton
Warren Hately AMR Times (No paywall)A State Government initiative enticing short-stay accommodation owners to return their homes to the rental market has netted 17 applicants across the Capes region. And, with rental availability slipping backwards another notch in the latest figures, desperate renters welcomed the extra homes. Premier Roger Cook announced the program earlier this year offering a $10,000 inducement to get homes off short stay renting sites and back on the market for renters.
https://www.amrtimes.com.au/news/augusta-margaret-river-times/st…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Queensland government announces new social housing development aimed at helping older women experiencing homelessness
Lexy Hamilton-Smith and Lawrence Jeffcoat ABC (No paywall)Maggie Shambrook has been living in temporary accommodation in Brisbane for six years and counts herself lucky to have a roof over her head. As a single woman over 55 she is part of the fastest growing group of Australians experiencing homelessness. "I lost my job and my home, I thought I'd be living in and renting for the next 20 years in the same week," she said. She found temporary accommodation, a small unit on the bottom floor of a 1970's brick home at Banyo in Brisbane's northside. "I could be living in a car or in a tent, and I am not and there are thousands of women who are, and some are taking their lives," Ms Shambrook said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-18/queensland-government-ann…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.