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
The high risks faced by international student renters in Australia.
Paul van Reyk Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)International students in Australia make a huge contribution to the economy and the community. They also face serious struggles and hardships. Finding and keeping rental accommodation is one of the major hidden risks they face. COVID-19 has made it even riskier. Professor Alan Morris and colleagues have recently published a significant piece of research here. In this interview, Paul van Reyk, Senior Project Officer with the Tenant’s Union, talks with Alan about the findings and implications of the research.
https://www.tenants.org.au/blog/high-risks-faced-international-s…
# Australia, Rent, International, Students.Why $46 Billion Couldn’t Prevent an Eviction Crisis
Glenn Thrush and Conor Dougherty The New York Times (Paywall)As national eviction protections lapse, much of the rental assistance sits unspent. Aid was slowed by red tape, resistance from landlords and the difficulty of navigating an informal market. Does a lease on a napkin qualify? ... The Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the national moratorium on evictions last month has turned a vexing administrative problem into a human crisis, placing at least 2 million renters in immediate danger of eviction, according to one estimate. ... Federal and local officials, housing experts, landlords and tenants cited an array of problems that slowed the flow of aid: bureaucratic missteps at all levels of government, onerous applications, resistance from landlords, the reluctance of local officials to ease eligibility requirements for the poor, difficulty raising awareness that rental aid even existed, and a steep rise in rents that increased the incentive for kicking out low-income tenants. More than anything, the failure illustrates the difficulty of trying to build a vast new social program from scratch in under a year, and the inability of policymakers to fully anticipate the challenges of navigating a rental market dominated by mom-and-pop operators outside the more regulated world of owner-occupied housing.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/business/evictions-rental-ass…
# Must read International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, State Government.‘Smells like rent control’: Housing affordability inquiry chair rubbishes affordable housing
Angus Thompson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A Sydney Liberal MP leading the Commonwealth’s inquiry into housing affordability has equated social housing with “housing commission” and criticised affordable schemes as rent fixing that drive up prices and limit supply elsewhere. ... “Since World War Two, housing commission has had a lot of negative impact on vulnerable communities and I query whether building it actually helps people in challenged communities,” Mr Falinski told the Urban Development Institute of Australia webcast on Thursday afternoon. “Affordable housing in different guises can do different things, but ultimately, it has the problem of reducing supply while increasing costs, and in some cases, looks and smells like rent control, which ... actually means that people pay higher rents.” Check out Alan Morris's 'Letter to the Editor' on 11 September 2021under the heading 'Floored by housing view': 'The comments on social housing by Jason Falinski capture the malevolence and short-sightedness of the federal government. His comment that social housing, which he deliberately labelled pejoratively as “housing commission”, “has had a lot of negative impact on vulnerable communities and I query whether building it actually helps people in challenged communities”, ignores the voluminous research that has clearly illustrated the profoundly positive impact that accessing affordable, secure and adequate housing can have on people who are homeless or who are dependent on the private rental sector and having to use most of their income to pay the rent.' [Viewed at: https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/curbs-on-freedom-will-create-an-underclass-20210909-p58q9o.html] Also, check the media release from Homelessness Australia, Community Housing Industry Association and National Shelter at: [https://www.communityhousing.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/253Y1007.pdf?x53590].
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/smells-like-rent-control-hou…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Federal Government.State warned of ‘huge risk’ to vulnerable people
Lucy Cormack The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)NSW risks setting a national reopening precedent that leaves vulnerable people behind, with social services groups warning the double vaccination target of 70 per cent could mask inequity in low-income communities. Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) said it has been unable to access an income bracket breakdown highlighting vaccination rates of the poorest groups, despite multiple requests to the state government and national cabinet. The claim comes as COVID-19 case numbers rise in inner Sydney suburbs like Glebe, Camperdown, Redfern and Waterloo, including among vulnerable groups and in public housing.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/state-warned-of-huge-risk-to…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, Health.What’s the state of purpose-built student accommodation? A look at the City of Adelaide.
Andrew Rossiter (No paywall)Purpose-built student accommodation is changing the fabric of many of our CBDs. Last month our Local Government Population Forecasting Team reviewed population forecasts for the City of Adelaide and were surprised with just how big an impact the sector is having in the Adelaide CBD. In this blog, Andrew Rossiter shares some of what the team learned on the current state of purpose-built accommodation in Adelaide, including the impact of the pandemic on current occupancy rates and what the road to recovery may look like. (.id blog)
https://blog.id.com.au/2021/population-forecasting/whats-the-sta…
# Australia, Housing market, Students.NSW Health limits residents of locked-down tower block to six beers per day
Anton Nilsson and James O'Doherty (No paywall)Residents in a Sydney tower block under a strict coronavirus lockdown are having their alcohol deliveries policed. Residents in apartment blocks locked-down by NSW Health are having their alcohol deliveries policed as part of a policy to limit the number of drinks being consumed each day. NSW Health has imposed rules limiting people in “NSW Health controlled buildings” to a certain amount of alcohol each day in a bid to “ensure the safety of health staff and residents”. Mission Australia’s Common Ground building in Camperdown is the latest building where occupants are subjected to the harsh rules. (news.com.au)
https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/news/nsw-health-limits-…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, Health, State Government.'Liar loans' on the rise as risky mortgages drive house price boom
Michael Janda and Gareth Hutchens ABC (No paywall)Australian home prices have surged almost 20 per cent over the past year, and investment bank UBS has warned that a record level of "liar loans" as buyers "chase the market" could be one reason why. The bank's annual survey of around 900 people who took out a mortgage over the past year showed that 41 per cent submitted loan applications that were not completely factually accurate — so-called "liar loans". That is a record high in the seven years UBS has collected this data ... Property investors were also more likely to falsify their loan applications (at 53 per cent with one investment property and 57 per cent for those with two) versus owner-occupiers (31 per cent).
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-11/liar-home-loans-mortgage-…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Victoria's affordable housing project kicks off with $740m worth of projects to build 2,300 homes
Mary McDonald, Kimberley Price, and Alexander Darling ABC (No paywall)The first funds have been allocated for a multi-million dollar spend on social housing in Victoria. Dubbed the Big Housing Build, the first round of funding will see $738 million invested in 89 projects. More than 2,300 new homes will be built, with the bulk to be ready for tenants by next year. ... The new homes will be accessible for people with disabilities, and there will be dedicated properties for people in need suffering mental health issues, escaping domestic violence, experiencing homelessness and Victoria’s First Peoples.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-10/victoria-big-housing-buil…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Housing market.