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
Are slowing house prices good news for Britain’s generation rent? Don’t hold your breath
Laurie Macfarlane The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... After years of watching homeownership slip further out of reach, it might be tempting for generation rent to greet the news of a house price slowdown with open arms. But it would be premature to reach for the champagne.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/08/house-pric…
# International, Home ownership, Housing market.Parliamentary flood report finds SES and Resilience NSW failed Lismore, northern NSW communities
Bruce MacKenzie and Lauren Pezet ABC (No paywall)A parliamentary inquiry has found the government agencies in charge of preparing for and responding to major flooding in New South Wales this year failed affected communities. Seven people died and thousands of people were displaced or cut off when floodwaters devastated the Northern Rivers region twice from late February. Despite calls from authorities to stand down, residents took to boats and jet skis to rescue each other from rooftops, and took with them axes and other equipment to cut open roof cavities in which people were stuck. Led by Labor's Walt Secord, the parliamentary committee took evidence at a series of hearings across the the state's north as well as Western Sydney, where floods also became deadly. Also, read Laura Chung's article entitled: '"Out of date, inaccurate and confusing": BOM, SES and Resilience NSW slammed for flood response' in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/out-of-date-inaccurate-and-confusing-bom-ses-and-resilience-nsw-slammed-for-flood-response-20220809-p5b8j8.html] Read Tamsin Rose's and Josh Butler's article entitled: 'Flood inquiry finds serious failures by agencies and calls for Resilience NSW to be scrapped' in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/aug/09/flood-inquiry-finds-serious-failures-by-agencies-and-calls-for-resilience-nsw-to-be-scrapped] Read the article by Lauren Pezet, Miranda Saunders, and Bruce MacKenzie entitled: 'Bureau of Meterology rejects suggestions it was unprepared for Northern Rivers NSW flood event' on the ABC at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-10/bom-defends-handling-of-lismore-nsw-flood-warnings/101315820]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-09/nsw-parliamentary-flood-i…
# NSW, Housing market, Planning and development, Regional NSW.Social Housing Gains Momentum in Hawaii
Stanley Chang (No paywall)aradise is palm trees and paddle boarding, sunsets and white sand. But for locals in Hawaii, life is hard. The housing shortage has made Hawaii the most expensive state to live in the United States, almost twice the national average. A 2020 study estimated that Hawaii produces only one-fifth of the housing we need. As a result, the median single-family home on Oahu cost $1.15 million this March. In recent years, other states have adopted a strategy of upzoning, or "gentle density," allowing homeowners to build more than one unit on a single-family lot. California allowed four units on most single-family lots statewide last year. Oregon and Maine have also enacted upzoning laws.
Hawaii has been down this road before, with limited results. Hawaii abolished single family zoning statewide in 1981 with the "ohana zoning" statute, and in 2015 Oahu adopted an accessory dwelling unit program to replace it. Yet by any measure, the housing shortage is worse today than it was in 1981 or 2015. Fortunately, there are jurisdictions that have actually solved the problem. Two of the best known, Singapore and Vienna, Austria, did it through social housing.
https://www.newsweek.com/social-housing-gains-momentum-hawaii-op…
# International, Public and community housing, Planning and development.Three things to watch out for when using the Bank of Mum and Dad
Declan Bowring ABC (No paywall)No queues, no paperwork, no PINs to remember, very few customers to deal with — it's the family-owned bank of your dreams and it has a name: the Bank of Mum and Dad. It was reported last year that 60 per cent of first-home buyers needed to borrow funds from their parents to get into the property market. And while doing so is hassle free for many, the seemingly easygoing arrangement can be where the danger lies. Brisbane lawyer Brian Herd specialises in elder law and often sees clients who have seen the bad side. (ABC Everyday)
https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/borrowing-money-from-parents-leg…
# Australia, Home ownership, Older people.Economists deeply divided over Reserve Bank's likely interest rate trajectory
Michael Janda ABC (No paywall)In one camp are those, such as the economists at Westpac and ANZ, who believe that the cash rate target will pass 3 per cent before the end of this year. ... Then there is the other camp of economists, represented by the Commonwealth Bank and NAB among the big four, who cannot see the cash rate getting above 3 per cent in the near future. ... [AMP Capital's chief economist Shane Oliver says] "A rise in the cash rate to 3 per cent or more would push total mortgage repayments [i.e. interest and principal] to record highs relative to household income," he observed, noting that the situation would be even worse for recent home buyers.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-08/economists-deeply-divided…
# Video Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Make a Difference food van expands mobile meals to meet increasing community need amid rental crisis
Emma Siossian ABC (No paywall)It's a cool winter's morning in the New South Wales coastal town of Port Macquarie and a group of locals have gathered to serve warm breakfasts and hot coffee to those in need or sleeping rough. A volunteer-run mobile food van is meeting an increasing need in the community, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and a shortage of affordable housing.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-06/food-van-serving-the-home…
# NSW, Rent, Homelessness, Housing affordability.Barilaro's meeting with sacked minister in spotlight amid questions over Western Sydney development
Phoebe Bowden ABC (No paywall)It's been revealed former New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro met with then fair trading minister Eleni Petinos weeks before a building ban was lifted for the developer for whom he has been working since leaving parliament. ... After resigning from politics in October 2021, Mr Barilaro took a job with Sydney-based developer Coronation Property. At the time, the company's Merrylands Road development had been hit with a stop-work order. On June 2 and June 21, 2022, former Small Business and Fair Trading Minister Ms Petinos met with Coronation Property representatives, with Mr Barilaro present at the latter meeting. The stop-work order was then lifted on July 4, 2022. Also, read Tom Rabe's article entitled: 'NSW building commissioner’s resignation letter set to be made public' in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nsw-building-commissioner-s-resignation-letter-set-to-be-made-public-20220809-p5b8j2.html] Read Michael McGowan's article entitled: 'John Barilaro-linked developer met with then NSW minister Eleni Petinos weeks before work ban lifted' in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/aug/09/john-barilaro-linked-developer-met-with-then-nsw-minister-eleni-petinos-weeks-before-work-ban-lifted] Also, read Phoebe Bowden's update at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-10/nsw-building-commissioner-resignation-referred-to-icac/101320398] Read articles on the same matter by Tom Rabe and Lucy Cormack in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/building-commissioner-s-resignation-letter-referred-to-icac-20220810-p5b8sp.html] and Michael McGowan in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/aug/10/nsw-building-commissioners-resignation-letter-sent-to-icac-dominic-perrottet-says]. Read the article by Kate McClymont, Tom Rabe and Lucy Cormack entitled: 'Barilaro, Petinos and "unusual" calls to the NSW building commissioner' in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/barilaro-petinos-and-unusual-calls-to-the-nsw-building-commissioner-20220810-p5b8v5.html]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-10/john-barilaro-and-develop…
# NSW, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Minimum habitability standards, State Government.Australia’s highest and lowest income suburbs: how does your postcode compare?
Emily Wind and Josh Nicholas The Guardian (No paywall)Australia’s highest and lowest income suburbs have been revealed in new data released by the Australian Taxation Office. The data, based on nearly 15m tax returns from 2019-20, reveals the median income and super balances of Australians in each postcode across the country. Eight of the country’s highest-earning postcodes are in Sydney, according to the data, while five of the lowest-earning postcodes are based in regional New South Wales.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/aug/09/highest-and-low…
# Australia, Families, Housing market, Tax.