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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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See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.

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Archive

Publish date
Key topics

Airbnb bans hosts from using indoor security cameras in rentals

Associated Press
The Guardian (No paywall)

Airbnb said on Monday that it’s banning the use of indoor security cameras in rentals around the world by the end of next month. The San Francisco-based online rental platform said it is seeking to “simplify” its security-camera policy while prioritizing privacy. The change will take effect 30 April. “These changes were made in consultation with our guests, hosts and privacy experts, and we’ll continue to seek feedback to help ensure our policies work for our global community,” Juniper Downs, Airbnb’s head of community policy and partnerships, said in a prepared statement.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/mar/11/airbnb-ban-in…

# Hot topic Australia, Privacy and access, Security and safety.
 

'Once-in-lifetime housing crisis' engulfing Vic

Melissa Meehan
Canberra Times (No paywall)

A program designed to provide homes to rough sleepers in Victoria during the COVID-19 pandemic will be rolled back despite a "once-in-a-lifetime housing crisis". The From Homelessness to a Home (H2H) program was funded as an emergency management response during the pandemic and Melbourne's rolling lockdowns. It helped 1845 people who were staying in emergency hotels find stable, medium and long-term housing, and supported them to establish and sustain their new homes.

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8551229/once-in-lifetime-…

# Hot topic Australia, Rent.
 

A leading economist has come up with a radical plan to end Australia’s housing woes once and for all

Shannon Molloy
news.com.au (No paywall)

A leading economist has proposed a bold plan to finally solve Australia’s housing woes – and a country nearby has done something similar with great success. Cameron Murray, chief economist at Fresh Economic Thinking and author of the new book The Great Housing Hijack, said the model doesn’t need to be at the expense of the private market. “Homeownership insulates you from rental market cycles, because if rents go up by 30 per cent but you’re in your own home, you’re free,” Dr Murray said. “The way I see it, we’ve got a third of Australians in private rentals, but if that was reduced to 10 per cent, then the cost of market increases would be reduced by two-thirds.”

https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/buying/a-leading-eco…

# Hot topic Australia, Rent.
 

TAS Labor: It’s time for a better future for renters

Labor Tasmania
(No paywall)

Labor’s top priority is taking urgent action on the cost of living – and that includes urgent action on housing. A Rebecca White Labor Government will give Tasmanian renters a better future by implementing a range of measures to help them make their house a home, and help with the cost-of-living crisis. To ensure a better future for renters, a Labor government would let renters make a house a home. We will allow renters to hang pictures, plant veggie gardens, affix furniture to the walls for [safety](https://www.mamamia.com.au/bolt-it-back-for-reef/), and put in child safety gates and mobility aids. We will also allow renters to have pets, and make clear that assistance animals are always allowed in rental homes.

https://taslabor.org.au/news/media-releases/it-s-time-for-a-bett…

# Legal significance Australia, Rent.
 

Think short-stay rentals like Airbnb are out of control? Numbers are down, especially in our biggest cities

Zhenpeng (Frank) Zou & Thomas Sigler
The Conversation (No paywall)

Further restrictions on short-term rental properties listed on platforms such as Airbnb and Stayz are on the table in Australia. Public pressure to ease the housing crisis is mounting. This makes quick-fix solutions to make housing more affordable increasingly attractive to governments. But any policy should be evidence-based. So what can we learn from the latest data on short-term rentals? The findings of our analysis might surprise you.

https://theconversation.com/think-short-stay-rentals-like-airbnb…

# Hot topic, Legal significance, Research alert Australia, .
 

South Australia considering making reporting of homelessness deaths mandatory

Christopher Knaus
The Guardian (No paywall)

The South Australian government will consider a proposal to mandate the reporting of homelessness deaths. The move follows revelations that hundreds of rough sleepers are dying premature, preventable deaths. The South Australian Alliance to End Homelessness wrote to the SA attorney general, Kyam Maher, this week urging him to follow New South Wales and consider a proposal for the mandatory reporting of homelessness deaths to the coroner. The letter cites a recent Guardian investigation that examined 627 deaths and found an average age of death of 44, more than 30 years lower than the general population.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/mar/09/south-aus…

# Australia, Discrimination, Security and safety.
 

Let’s not kid ourselves that private investors or super funds will build the social housing we need

Joey Moloney & Brendan Coates
The Conversation (No paywall)

Treasurer Jim Chalmers is leading a push to get private investors to help build more social and affordable housing. But we shouldn’t kid ourselves about where the money will come from. The defining feature of social and affordable housing is a big rental subsidy for the tenant, which no private investor will ever volunteer to pay. In the end, government – that is, taxpayers – will always foot the bill. The sooner we accept this, the better. Wishful thinking that private investors will wear the cost of rental discounts risks making the limited government subsidies available for housing less effective.

https://theconversation.com/lets-not-kid-ourselves-that-private-…

# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing.
 

Thinking of renting directly from a landlord? Here’s what you need to know about private rentals in Australia

Thierry Ng
The Property Tribune (No paywall)

It is no secret that Australia’s rental market is a disaster. According to SQM research, the national vacancy rate currently hovers around 1.0%. Other parts of Australia have fared worse, with the vacancy rate standing at a paltry 0.4% in Perth and 0.5% in Adelaide, a far cry from the 2.5% to 3.5% typical of a healthy market. As rent and homelessness rise uncontrollably, and the number of rentals available dwindles, many renters have scoured alternative avenues, like Facebook or Gumtree, in search of a home.

https://thepropertytribune.com.au/opinion/thinking-of-renting-di…

# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media NSW, Starting a tenancy.
 

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