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
NSW makes its biggest investment in tackling domestic violence
Alexandra Smith The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The NSW government will make its single largest investment in tackling domestic violence, spending almost $500 million on extra refuges for women and children fleeing their homes. The spending will form a significant part of the state government’s COVID-19 economic recovery package and will add 75 women’s refuges, taking the number in NSW to 161. More than $464 million will be spent over four years on a model focused on self-contained accommodation to support women and children escaping domestic and family violence. The accommodation is located next to services including counselling, legal assistance, education, and employment support. The sites also contain meeting rooms, audio-visual equipment for court appearances, communal kitchens, and playgrounds.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/nsw-makes-its-biggest-invest…
# New policy announcement NSW, Domestic violence, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Sweeping housing legislation could reshape New Zealand cities for decades to come
Eva Corlett The Guardian (No paywall)New Zealand’s cities could be reshaped for decades to come, after the government joined forces with the opposition to announce sweeping bipartisan housing legislation that aims to counter urban sprawl and boost supply by up to 105,000 new homes in the next eight years. In a rare display of cross-party collaboration, the housing minister Megan Woods and environment minister David Parker took the podium with the National Party’s leader Judith Collins and its housing spokesperson Nicola Willis on Tuesday, to introduce a bill that will cut urban-planning red-tape and enable up to three houses, three storeys tall, to be built on most sites without requiring consent in the country’s major cities. ... Housing and environment advocacy groups like City for People – which Stewart helped establish – Generation Zero and Renters United have long pushed for densification. “This new cross-partisan reform is to be celebrated. It is a vital step to tackling our housing crisis by ensuring people’s right to a quality home is paramount. The real character of our cities are people and thriving communities,” the groups said. But they would like to see other levers pulled: “generous rental subsidies, accessible housing, support for papakāinga [Māori housing] developments, and investments in sustainable water, open space and transport infrastructure.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/19/sweeping-housing-l…
# International, Housing market, Planning and development.5 steps to take if you’re struggling with rent
Georgia Lenton-Williams (National Debt Helpline) (No paywall)A recent report by the Tenants’ Union of NSW and Youth Action found that rental housing affordability was a big concern among renters under 30, with 84% of respondents selecting the cost of rental properties as the issue that mattered most to them. (Tilly Money)
https://tillymoney.com.au/5-steps-to-take-if-youre-struggling-wi…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Rent, Housing market, Young people.Pandemic spurs women's housing insecurity
Gina Rushton (No paywall)Thousands of women in NSW live in unsafe housing and face homelessness as rent remains unaffordable and the economic impact of the pandemic continues, local governments, charities and social services groups say. A coalition of groups including the NSW Council of Social Service, Local Government NSW, Mission Australia and the Older Women's Network have released a report highlighting the urgent need to support women's economic security and safety by investing in social housing. (7 News) Check out the NSW Council of Social Service's media release with a link to the report at: [https://www.ncoss.org.au/policy-advocacy/policy-research-publications/rebuilding-womens-economic-security-investing-in-social-housing-in-nsw/]
https://7news.com.au/business/pandemic-spurs-womens-housing-inse…
# Research alert NSW, Rent, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Older people, Women.Would a rent waiver discourage dodgy tenancy terminations and ease traumatic moves?
Ian Bushnell (No paywall)Submissions on the ACT Government’s consultation paper on tenancy laws closed last Friday, and lobby group Better Renting has come up with an idea that will make landlords wince but is worth consideration. Better Renting proposes that if landlords want to terminate a tenancy without a due cause, then they should contribute to the costs this imposes on the tenant, such as removal and storage charges, end-of-lease cleaning, utilities disconnection and connections, double rent while in transition and the use of annual leave while moving. (Riotact)
https://the-riotact.com/would-a-rent-waiver-discourage-dodgy-ten…
# Australia, Eviction, Rent, No-grounds evictions.Long-term renters pushed out of the housing market by record rent and house prices
Widia Jalal ABC (No paywall)Katie and her husband will never make any more money than they do now, but already their dream of owning a home is beyond reach. ... Rising rent and house prices are "a double whammy" for people trying to save for a deposit, according to CoreLogic's head of research Australia, Eliza Owen. Key points in this article: It hasn't been this expensive to rent in Australia since 2008; house prices are climbing twice as fast as rent, with the regions outpacing the cities; long-term renters say it's almost impossible to save for a home
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-18/record-house-and-rent-pri…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Regional NSW.China plays down contagion fears as clock ticks on Evergrande
Stephen Bartholomeusz The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)This week the teetering Chinese property giant, Evergrande, is likely to formally default on payments on two bond issues. That might explain why China’s central bank sought to play down fears of contagion on Friday. On September 23, Evergrande missed the interest payments on two issues of bonds (its missed more payments since) but had a 30-day grace period to make good on the payments before a formal default could be declared. That period of grace expires this week, making its individual crisis and the threat it poses to the broader property sector and financial system far more immediate and real. ... While Evergrande is the largest and most high-profile of the Chinese property developers in trouble, a lengthening string of other companies have been missing interest and principal payments and sales by the bigger property companies were down nearly 40 per cent in September compared to the same month last year.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/china-plays-…
# International, Housing market.The suburbs around Australia where rents are still lower than five years ago
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Rents have reached record heights in many of Australia’s biggest cities, but there are still pockets where properties are being rented for less than they cost five years ago.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/the-city-suburbs-where-rents-are-…
# Australia, Rent.