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
How many in a crowd? Assessing overcrowding measures in Australian housing
Michael Dockery, Megan Moskos, Linda Isherwood and Mark Harris AHURI (No paywall)AHURI News ... This study assess the measurement of overcrowding in Australia and explores the relationships between various household density measures and the wellbeing of occupants. Indicators of the incidence or severity of household crowding in Australia actually measure occupant density—the ratio of occupants to available space—rather than crowding, which relates to a psychological response to the sense of excessive density. How overcrowding is defined and measured has important implications for funding requirements, the appropriate mix of housing stock given household structures and rules for allocating families to public and community housing.
# Research alert Australia, Public and community housing, Health, Housing market.First Take: Mortgage Stress July 2022
Arthur North (No paywall)This is a first take on the latest results from our models, which shows a further rise in mortgage and rental stress (defined in cash flow terms) across Australia. We examine the high-level results by state, segment and post code, and also present the latest stress heat maps, which highlight the growth of pressure in the newly developed zones across the country, as well as in some regional communities. Stress has risen thanks to rising costs of living, increasing mortgage and rents, while real incomes continue to fall. (Digital Finance Analytics Blog)
https://digitalfinanceanalytics.com/blog/first-take-mortgage-str…
# Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.A snapshot of poverty in Summer 2022
(No paywall)New Bevan Foundation research reveals majority of people in Wales cutting back on essential items. The Bevan Foundation’s Snapshot of poverty series has established itself as a vital tool for anyone who wants to understand how the pandemic and more recently the cost-of-living crisis are affecting Wales. This is the fourth report published as part of our series and is unquestionably the report that paints the most disturbing picture.
With rising costs dominating the headlines our latest Snapshot report has a slightly different focus to our previous reports. Instead of looking at what is happening to costs and incomes, our latest survey focuses on the impact of surging costs, and sluggish income growth on households. The findings are incredibly concerning. ... 11 per cent of people are worried about the prospect of losing their home over the next three months. This rises to a quarter of private rental sector tenants and 17 per cent of social housing tenants. (Sefydliad Bevan Foundation)
https://www.bevanfoundation.org/resources/a-snapshot-of-poverty-…
# Research alert International, Families, Housing market.Taking stock: how has 10 years of Airbnb changed Australia?
Bronwyn Adcock The Guardian (No paywall)Airbnb arrived in Australia in 2012, and, since then, millions of international and domestic travellers have booked stays through the platform. It has brought with it a series of profound shifts; from a new willingness to do business with strangers over the internet and sleep in someone else’s bed, to giving anyone the ability to live like a local in someone else’s town. But it has also raised questions about the benefits of booming short-term accommodation, when locals have nowhere to live.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/30/taking-st…
# Australia, Rent, Human rights, International, Landlords and agents, Short-term holiday letting.Australian house prices fall at 'fastest rate' since 2008 financial crisis
David Chau ABC (No paywall)House prices in Australia are dropping at their fastest pace since the global financial crisis — and market conditions are "likely to worsen" as interest rates continue to rise, according to property analytics firm CoreLogic. ... Renters are also disadvantaged in the current property market. As their landlords' mortgage repayments increase (and more foreign workers and students) return to Australia, rents have surged rapidly. Also, read Shane Wright's article entitled: 'House values tumble and could drop faster as rates set to rise' in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/house-values-tumble-and-could-drop-faster-as-rates-set-to-rise-20220731-p5b5yv.html] Read Peter Hannam's article entitled: 'Australian property prices tumble at rates not seen since GFC' in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/aug/01/australian-property-prices-tumble-at-rates-not-seen-since-gfc]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-01/house-prices-dive-july-co…
# Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.Renters’ rights in mouldy homes: can you get a rent reduction, or compensation for damages?
Kate Cunningham The Guardian (No paywall)What are your rights when it comes to mould – and how can you actually enforce them? Here’s a quick guide for renters in NSW, Queensland and Victoria. ... In NSW, Ned Cooke, a solicitor from the Tenants’ Advice and Advocacy Service at Sydney’s Redfern Legal Centre ... says, “if it really turns into a fight, then it might be a matter of getting … Fair Trading to send an inspector out to the property”.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/aug/01/mould-renta…
# NSW, Rent, Tribunal NCAT, Mould.Greening the greyfields: how to renew our suburbs for more liveable, net-zero cities
Peter Newman, Giles Thomson, Peter Newton and Stephen Glackin The Conversation (No paywall)Our ageing cities are badly in need of regeneration. Many established residential areas, the “greyfields”, are becoming physically, technologically and environmentally obsolete. They are typically located in low-density, car-dependent middle suburbs developed in the mid to late 20th century. Compared to the outer suburbs, these middle suburbs are rich in services, amenities and jobs. But the greyfields also represent economically outdated, failing or undercapitalised real-estate assets. Their location has made them the focus of suburban backyard infill development. Unfortunately, the current approach typically cuts down all the trees and creates more car traffic as resident numbers grow. A new kind of urban regeneration is needed at the scale of precincts, rather than lot by lot, to transform the greyfields into more liveable and sustainable suburbs. It calls for a collaborative approach by federal, state and local governments.
https://theconversation.com/greening-the-greyfields-how-to-renew…
# Australia, Federal Government, Local Government, Planning and development, State Government.The deadly consequences of rental evictions in WA
Jesse Noakes (Paywall)As a homelessness crisis unfolds around the country, the Western Australian government has undertaken to review tenancy laws to finally remove ‘no grounds’ rental evictions. (The Saturday Paper)
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/health/2022/07/30/the-d…
# Australia, Rent, No-grounds evictions.