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
Sydney and Melbourne rents surge, but headed even higher
John Collett The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The return of international students and new boosted immigration numbers will likely place further upward pressure on rents, which are already surging at a rapid clip, property experts say. Renters are facing a perfect storm of chronic undersupply, particularly of units, due to a lack of construction and property investors switching from the long-term rental market to short-term, holiday accommodation. Louis Christopher, founder of SQM Research, suspects the rental squeeze is forcing many younger renters into either moving back into family homes, moving further out of cities where rents are cheaper, or sharing their rental accommodation with more people, in a bid to combat the surge in what is the biggest cost-of-living expense for most people. ... Figures from Digital Finance Analytics show the percentage of people suffering from rental stress has already hit 51 per cent in Victoria and 62 per cent in New South Wales – about double normal levels. Both are higher than the stress levels of mortgage holders. ... Martin North, founder of Digital Finance Analytics, says many landlords entered short-term letting markets, such as putting their property on the Airbnb platform, after borders re-opened, leaving fewer properties in the long-term rental market.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/investing/sydney-and-melbourne-rent…
# Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Short-term holiday letting.Minister Julie Collins on Labor’s plan for Australia’s housing crisis
The Guardian (No paywall)Chief political correspondent Sarah Martin talks to Julie Collins, the federal housing minister, about Labor’s election promise to build 30,000 affordable homes and how she’s working with states and territories to address the social housing shortage
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/audio/2022/sep/03/min…
# Audio Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Housing market.Former Reserve Bank economist suggests Greens push for interest rate freeze is nonsensical
Paul Karp The Guardian (No paywall)A call by the federal Greens for an interest rate freeze could push consumer prices higher and hurt savers and renters, an expert has warned. Economist Dr Zac Gross issued the warning after the Greens economic justice spokesman, Nick McKim, called on the Reserve Bank to “hit pause” on cash rate rises until the October budget to pressure the government to “rein in corporate profiteering”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/04/former-re…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Aussie tenants claim they're being evicted over rental complaints
A Current Affair Staff 9 News (No paywall)It appears Australia's rental crisis has taken an even nastier turn for some who complain or have a gripe about an issue with their landlord. Some Aussie tenants have now spoken out, claiming that after they went to their landlords with a grievance, they were handed lease termination notices. .... Leo Patterson Ross is from the New South Wales Tenants Union. He said the rising costs of rental properties and a lack of availability put a lot of strain on Australian tenants. "The current system puts people in a really tough spot," he said. "If you are evicted there's a real shortage of genuinely affordable options." Ross said as a result many renters are choosing to remain quiet and suffer. (9 Now)
https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/aussie-tenants-speak-o…
# TUNSW in the media, Video NSW, Rent, Utilities water energy internet, Mould, No-grounds evictions, Short-term holiday letting.More California cities enact rent control to protect tenants, upsetting apartment owners
Summer Lin (No paywall)From Los Angeles ... When Bell Gardens resident Monchis Curiel got a notice last year from her landlord that rent for her three-bedroom apartment would more than double the next day — from $1,200 a month to $2,500 — she was shocked. Curiel, 47, has lived in the city for more than three decades and knew her landlord was required to give at least 60 days’ notice for such a large increase. She decided to fight the move in court and won. And because her landlord didn’t want to pay the relocation fees under Los Angeles County’s rent stabilization ordinance, Curiel was offered a one-year lease at her original rent. Curiel, a single mother of four who earns about $14,000 annually, said that if she hadn’t known her rights as a tenant, she would’ve been forced to move out. “I would’ve separated my kids from my family. They would’ve gone to their father, and I would probably be sleeping in a car,” she said. “What I cared about is that my kids had a roof.” ... On Aug. 22, the City Council voted unanimously to advance a rent stabilization ordinance that would limit annual rent increases to 50% of the local consumer price index, capping the hike at 4% even if the inflation rate is higher. Rent control has long been a tool to protect people from being priced out of their homes. But with California’s rents rising amid a hot real estate market, more cities are turning to the protections. This has won praise from tenant groups and opposition from apartment owners’ organizations, which have been critical of the Bell Gardens plan. (Los Angeles Times)
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-08-28/more-califor…
# International, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Census of Population and Housing - Counts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians
Australian Bureau of Statistics (No paywall)The 2021 Census marks 50 years since the 1971 Census – the first Census to include all Australians following the 1967 Referendum. The 1967 Referendum changed the Constitution to allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to be included in official Census population counts. In 1971, 115,993 people identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander in the Census. In 2021, that number grew to 812,728 people.
https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/aboriginal-and-torres-s…
# Australia, Race and ethnicity.Ratepayers slam Bendigo council’s plan to evict Huntly campers as housing service stays silent
Fiona Parker, Jo Printz and Tyrone Dalton ABC (No paywall)A Victorian council is facing backlash from ratepayers who say they feel "ashamed" by its plan to evict long-term campers from a public park. The City of Greater Bendigo gave residents 14 days' notice on Monday to pack up and leave Huntly Lions Park, saying it would use enforcement action to remove them from Sunday, September 11. Social justice lawyers have labelled the move a potential breach of the Charter of Human Rights.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-31/ratepayers-criticise-bend…
# Australia, Eviction, Land lease communities, Homelessness, Housing market, Long-term tenant, Planning and development, State Government.NSW public housing body tackles homes mismatch
Michael Bleby (Paywall)NSW is using its 3000-dwelling Waterloo South project to tackle an imbalance that has left the state social housing landlord with bigger homes than it needs. Newly appointed Land and Housing Corporation chief executive Simon Newport said the project, with a $1.7 billion development currently out to tender, was a critical part of refreshing a public housing stock that does not reflect current community needs. “There’s a mismatch between what our current stock looks like and what our stock needs to be,” Mr Newport told The Australian Financial Review. “Our stock is heavily weighted to three-bedroom, one-bathroom houses. But 78 per
cent of people on the wait list for homes are needing one- or two-bedroom homes.”
https://www.afr.com/property/commercial/nsw-public-housing-body-…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Estate renewal.