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
Housing focus on elderly homelessness
Megan Gorrey The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Local councils in NSW are pushing the state government to fund more affordable and social housing for over-55s. Check out this article about Local Government NSW's submission to the NSW parlimentary inquiry.
# NSW, Homelessness, Local Government, Older people.Tenant advocate calls for cap on rent increases
Neil Mitchell (No paywall)The average rental asking price in Melbourne is rising fast, and a renter advocacy group is calling for fixed limits on rent hikes. In the June quarter, the median rental asking price in Melbourne was $460. While Melbourne is still the cheapest Australian capital city to rent in, median house rental prices have risen seven per cent year on year, and 2.2 per cent in the last quarter — and wage rises are not keeping up. Executive director at Better Renting, a renters’ advocacy organisation, Joel Dignam, says “rents are going up because vacancy rates are low”. ... Mr Dignam is calling for the government to introduce a limit on how much landlords can increase rents by. “We’d like to see government trying to cap some of these exorbitant rent increases,” he said. (3AW693 News Talk)
https://www.3aw.com.au/tenant-advocate-calls-for-cap-on-rent-inc…
# Audio Australia, Rent, Housing market.A million homes sit empty, so where are they and can they help ease the housing crisis?
Erin Parke ABC (No paywall)Census data has revealed a million houses are sitting empty in towns where, just metres away, working families are being forced to live in tents. Analysis of 2021 vacant property data has shown ghost towns are emerging at both ends of the housing market spectrum — in wealthy coastal areas and declining inland farming towns — at a time of unprecedented demand for rentals and soaring homelessness rates. ... In southern NSW, Eurobodalla Shire mayor Mathew Hatcher wrote to more than 8,000 out-of-town property owners, mainly from Sydney and Canberra, pleading with them to put their spare homes on the local rental market.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-20/homeless-crisis-million-h…
# Australia, Homelessness, Housing market, Local Government, Regional NSW.Apartments proposed for Castlemaine to alleviate affordable housing strain
Emma D'Agostino ABC (No paywall)More than 40 apartments could be built over two council-owned sites in Castlemaine if a $25 million plan to boost affordable housing comes to fruition. The Mount Alexander Shire Council is considering opening up two properties on Templeton Street for redevelopment above their existing uses by issuing air rights.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-20/apartments-proposed-for-c…
# Australia, Affordable housing, Local Government.Edwardian morals, Thatcher and bad design – why Britain’s homes are so hot
Phineas Harper The Guardian (No paywall)As Britons swelter in the highest temperatures on record, the UK’s substandard and overheating housing is again under the spotlight. Most British homes are unable to keep residents cool in heatwaves and are cripplingly expensive to heat in the winter. By the numbers, we have some of the worst-performing housing stock in Europe. Our homes are poorly insulated and draughty, have virtually no shading and are badly oriented. How did one of the world’s wealthiest economies end up with houses that are so unprepared for extreme weather?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/20/britain-wo…
# International, Climate change, Housing market.Select committee report on regulating social housing: six key recommendations
Grainne Cuffe Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) Select Committee has published the first report on its inquiry into the regulation of social housing. Inside Housing has gone through the detail of the report and outlined six of the committee’s key recommendations on: funding regeneration; stock condition surveys; tenant representation; Housing Ombudsman compensation; systemic failure test; mandating registration with the regulator
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/select-committee…
# International, Public and community housing.Queensland faces dire social housing shortage, audit finds
Judy Skatssoon (No paywall)The Queensland government is failing to effectively manage its social housing register amid a growth in demand that’s threatening to outstrip supply, an audit has found. The state’s audit office looked at whether the Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy is effectively managing the needs of Queenslanders who can’t afford the private rental market. A report tabled on July 12 warns that as the private market becomes more competitive, many Queenslanders will struggle to find secure and affordable housing. (Government News)
https://www.governmentnews.com.au/queensland-faces-dire-social-h…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing.NSW to create new statutory Property Services Commissioner
Judy Skatssoon (No paywall)The NSW government will establish an independent statutory Property Services Commissioner tasked with regulating the sector, managing complaints and investigating breaches. (Government News)
https://www.governmentnews.com.au/nsw-to-create-new-statutory-pr…
# NSW, Landlords and agents.