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
What do you really have to do for a rental inspection?
NZ Herald (No paywall)Aotearoa, New Zealand: Routine rental inspections can seem like an inconvenience. Every three months or so, tenants will need to worry about how clean the place they’re renting needs to be to pass the grade. Is the landlord or property manager going to open the wardrobes and cupboards? Will I be forced to pay for that worn-out carpet which was old anyway? While these check-ups may feel annoying, they can help protect the tenant from unfair claims at the end of a tenancy, says Ray White business development manager Jessica Currie, who has 15 years of experience in Auckland property management.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/what-do-you-really-have-to-do-for-…
# Hot topic International, Rent, Starting a tenancy.Could Aboriginal-designed housing help solve the health crisis in remote communities?
Otis Filley The Guardian (No paywall)It’s hotter inside than out in many of the homes in the remote Northern Territory town of Tennant Creek, where the Warumungu man Jimmy Frank Jupurrurla and his family live. Most lack insulation and guttering. At Drive-in Camp outside town, the homes are tin sheds, disconnected from services since the 2007 intervention but still occupied. The poor housing is making the residents sick, Jupurrurla says: “I worry about the future – will my grandchildren and their kids be living in prison-like houses? Or are we going to start designing homes that allow us to practise our culture?”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/oct/13/could-abo…
# Must read Australia, Aboriginal renters, Discrimination.How many properties do politicians own? A public register of their interests provides the answer
Tom Crowley, Ahmed Yussuf, Mark Doman, Katia Shatoba and Thomas Brettell ABC (No paywall)The revelation that Anthony Albanese had purchased a $4.3 million slice of “clifftop perfection” on the NSW Central Coast set tongues wagging. Not only because the listing made it sound like something out of Grand Designs, replete with “mesmerising ocean views” and “timber-lined cathedral ceilings” — perfect fodder for the national pastime of property stickybeaking. But also because he is the prime minister and will soon face voters in an election in which housing affordability woes are sure to feature.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-16/how-many-properties-do-au…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, .New report reveals the insane amount rent has increased across Australia since the pandemic
Emma Kirk news.com.au (No paywall)A new report has revealed renters in Australia are now paying on average nearly $15,000 more a year to rent a house since the pandemic. Everybody’s Home released the data which showed the shocking annual rise in rents that have smashed Australians living in capital cities since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The data revealed renters spent on average almost $15,000 more a year to rent a home since January 2020, but for people living in Sydney and Perth that amount was in excess of $18,000 more a year.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/renting/new-report-r…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.More Australians being ‘priced out’ of homes by big rent hikes, advocates fear
Cait Kelly The Guardian (No paywall)Renters in Australian capital cities are on average spending nearly $15,000 more a year to rent a house since the start of the pandemic, analysis has revealed. Research from the advocacy organisation Everybody’s Home showed on average renters in capitals are paying $14,700 more annually to rent a house, and $9,600 more to rent a unit compared with 2020. Sydney and Perth have endured the steepest rent rises, with annual increases well above capital city averages for units ($10,452 and $14,508 respectively) and houses ($18,512 and $18,304). Adelaide and Brisbane unit rents are also above average.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/oct/13/more-aust…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.On why not 30 per cent public housing
The Fifth Estate (No paywall)Caryn Kakas is head of housing strategy for ANZ bank and her voice is a great addition to the range of experts we heard at Let’s Hack Housing last week. Her work is all about funding affordable and social housing solutions in Australia through a variety of partnerships with government and social housing providers that she outlined in a recent article she authored on the bank’s Bluenotes website. After all funding is key to everything we do in a monetised society; it’s how we allocate resources.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/columns/news-from-the-front-desk/o…
# Must read Australia, Public and community housing.Housing crisis hinders release of SA prisoners, concerns reoffending will increase
Malcolm Sutton ABC (No paywall)Prisoners eligible for release are remaining locked up for months longer than they should be because there is nowhere for them to live during the country's ongoing housing crisis, South Australia's Parole Board chairperson has said. Frances Nelson KC said a lack of housing also meant that newly-released prisoners were having to live in unstable conditions, which was increasing the likelihood of reoffending. "They're either couch surfing with their druggie mates, or they're homeless and living on the streets, or they're in accommodation that is appalling like a boarding house where there's lots of drugs," Ms Nelson told ABC Radio Adelaide.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-10/sa-prisoners-housing-cris…
# Must read Australia, Boarders and lodgers, Rent, Starting a tenancy.'Bittersweet' result as Riverlea developers given construction go-ahead after Aboriginal remains found
Sophie Holder and Meagan Dillon ABC (No paywall)At a multi-billion-dollar housing development in Adelaide's north, construction was brought to a halt last year following the discovery of Aboriginal remains. The estate attracted controversy and protest after it was revealed the remains of more than 20 people were uncovered there at two separate burial sites. On Friday, the South Australian government said it had given developers the green light to continue construction with strict conditions. They include that the remains be returned, with one of the burial sites being turned into a memorial.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-15/aboriginal-remains-at-riv…
# Must read Australia, .