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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
‘I’ll just rent you my house’: Byron Bay housing crisis the worst in the state
Catherine Naylor The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Christmas was looming when restaurateur Ben Kirkwood realised he had a problem. He had managed to find staff to move to Byron Bay and work in his eatery, but they had nowhere to live. Competition for housing was so fierce that young, often casual, hospitality workers had little chance of securing a lease. Kirkwood had to act fast, when the staff were told to leave their temporary accommodation to make way for peak-season holiday bookings. “I thought, ‘screw that, I’ll just rent you my house, and we’ll just go and rent something’.” He moved his wife and children out of the family home at the end of 2020 – and moved his staff in. “It was either that or we wouldn’t have been able to open our business every day,” said Kirkwood, who owns the Beach Byron Bay restaurant. ... [And] more than 15 per cent of dwellings in the Byron local government area were empty on census night, six percentage points higher than the state average.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/i-ll-just-rent-you-my-house-…
# NSW, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market, Short-term holiday letting, Work, employment.Building commissioner’s resignation letter reveals concerns about minister and Barilaro
Lucy Cormack and Tom Rabe The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The resignation letter of NSW building commissioner David Chandler has revealed he held concerns about the relationship between then-fair trading minister Eleni Petinos and the property development group that hired former deputy premier John Barilaro. The confidential letter, which has also been provided to the corruption watchdog, was released under parliamentary order on Thursday. It outlined a litany of Chandler’s concerns, including his “problematic” engagement with Petinos’ office, which influenced his decision to resign. Also, read Jimmy Thomson's blog entitled: 'Chandler letter blasts former minister Petinos' in 'Flat Chat' at: [https://www.flatchat.com.au/chandler-quit-letter/]. You can read David Chandler's resignation letter in full at: [https://www.flatchat.com.au/chandler-letter/]
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/building-commissioner-s-resi…
# NSW, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Minimum habitability standards, State Government.The battle for the ‘light greens’: How renters are reshaping politics
Michael Koziol The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Anyone who wants to understand the “teal wave” that upended politics-as-usual at the last federal election ought to study Justin Steele. He’s 33 and lives in a share house in Redfern, but has just signed a lease with his girlfriend to rent a terrace in nearby Darlington. They would like to buy, but prices make it impossible for now. During the week he works for a travel startup; on the weekend he runs his own business doing bar tours. ... Australia’s three biggest cities are filling up with Justin Steeles, say political scientists. They are tertiary educated, socially progressive and animated about climate change. They rent, but they want to be able to afford to buy a home. They are pro-development and anti-NIMBY, uncertain about the Greens, disenchanted with Labor and alienated by the Liberals. And they are increasingly powerful. There are now more renters in Sydney than people paying off a mortgage.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-battle-for-the-light-greens-…
# Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market, Young people.Queensland tenants under pressure as rents rise amid calls for compassion from landlords
Jemima Burt ABC (No paywall)In the 12 months to July, Brisbane tenants faced an average rent rise of 9 per cent for apartments and 13 per cent for houses. Throw in the return of overseas migration, low vacancy rates and a building supply crisis, and the state's tenants union says it is facing a rental crisis where landlords hold all the power. Cairo Sauvage is in his 20s and lives in a share house in Morningside with his partner and housemates. ... Mr Sauvage has a unique perspective to the rental crisis as a "rent-vester", where he lives in a rental but owns a home in the inner-Brisbane suburb of Windsor. ... [He says] "If the tenant is terrible, the landlord has powers based on our current legislation to kick them out. If a landlord is terrible, the tenant doesn't have much to fall back on." ... On Saturday, Deputy Premier Steven Miles urged landlords and agents to show compassion. "It would be disappointing if parts of the real estate industry were using those laws in a way that made people feel less secure in their homes," Mr Miles said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-14/qld-housing-rental-rises-…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents, No-grounds evictions, State Government.Tasmanian property investor drop 'a worry' for the rental market, REIT says
Guy Stayner and Isabella Podwinski ABC (No paywall)There are growing concerns a drop in investors buying into Tasmanian real estate could further shrink the availability of rental properties in the state. The number of investors purchasing a Tasmanian property in the June quarter fell by 20 per cent compared to the previous quarter. Out of 1,781 properties sold, just 16 per cent were purchased by investors, with even fewer Hobart properties (12 per cent) purchased as investments. "That's a worry," the president of the Real Institute of Tasmania, Michael Walsh, said. He fears properties being sold could be removed from an already tight rental market that has a current statewide vacancy rate of about 1 per cent.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-10/tasmania-property-investo…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Broome renters forced to sign leases they can't afford, or end up homeless
Tallulah Bieundurry and Vanessa Mills ABC (No paywall)Broome renters are "signing leases they can't afford" in a desperate bid to secure a home as welfare organisations warn of increasing stress amid the nation's housing crisis. "It's heartbreaking," Shelter WA CEO Michelle Mackenzie said. "People are really stressed because they can't find an affordable home. They're worried they're going to be evicted or the rent's going up. "People are signing leases they know they can't afford, because the option is homelessness."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-12/broome-renters-sign-lease…
# Australia, Rent, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Housing market.Victorian councils axe in-home services as aged care providers struggle to find staff
Zilla Gordon ABC (No paywall)Louise Craig had been using her local council's in-home care assistance for about 15 years, but this year the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council (MPSC) made the decision to stop the services, leaving elderly residents waiting for support. MPSC is one of 28 local government regions across the state opting to discontinue in-home care services.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-11/aged-care-delays-amid-sta…
# Australia, Local Government, Older people.Keep it all in. Storage units – in pictures
The Guardian (No paywall)Thin, tall, tiny: cupboards in all shapes and sizes for the awkward corners of your home
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gallery/2022/aug/07/kee…
# International, Home.