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
CoreLogic: Regional rents record largest increase on record
Jack Needham (No paywall)Rents across regional Australia surged by 11.3 per cent in the year ending June 2021, the highest annual growth figure since data firm CoreLogic began records in 2005. ... Tasmania aside, many of the largest gains were found in regional Queensland, Western Australia and NSW, with many traditional tourist hotspots seeing the greatest growth. (Port Macquariie News)
https://www.portnews.com.au/story/7345634/unsustainable-regional…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Regional NSW.New concept to see older women living together to avoid homelessness, loneliness
Dea Clark ABC (No paywall)Maggie Shambrook had a successful career and single-handedly raised three children before being made redundant. ... "I lost my job and my house I'd been living in for 25 years," the 65-year-old said. "I had no success in the private rental market because I was on Newstart. I applied for 30 properties and couldn't find anywhere to live." ... Her story is an all too familiar one for older women who are recognised as the fastest-growing cohort of homeless people in the country. ... Facing a soaring rental market and no hope of ever owning her own home, Ms Shambrook and several other women turned to the newly formed foundation Sharing With Friends. The organisation ... aims to provide an opportunity for women to buy into an affordable, custom-built home. The prototype is designed to fit on an 800-square-metre suburban block of land provided by the charity. The idea is that five women each invest $120,000, which pays for the construction of affordable purpose-built accommodation consisting of five private living quarters, with a communal laundry, library, and garden.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-24/older-women-look-to-live-…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Older people, Planning and development, Women.Renters on COVID-19 Disaster Payment set to face housing stress or rent debt
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)There are no suburbs in locked-down Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide where a single renter could afford the median home on the COVID-19 Disaster Payment without being in housing stress, new analysis shows. ... By itself, the $600 payment is not enough for many renters, said Tenants’ Union of NSW chief executive Leo Patterson Ross, adding that JobSeeker recipients who have lost a couple of shifts a week are not eligible for the disaster payments at all. But amid Sydney’s extended lockdown, he welcomed the NSW government’s eviction moratorium, which protects tenants who have lost income due to COVID and continue to pay at least 25 per cent of their rent.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/renters-on-covid-19-disaster-paym…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, State Government.‘Stressful’: Sydney tenants served eviction notices during lockdown
Eden Gillespie SBS (No paywall)As Sydney’s COVID-19 numbers were ramping up, Alex and several other tenants in his apartment building in Sydney received eviction notices. Some tenants, who live in the same building as Alex but rent apartments owned by a real estate developer, told The Feed they were successful in pushing back the date of the eviction to the end of lockdown. But Alex, who rents through McGrath Real Estate and whose home is owned by a private property investor, was not so lucky. The Feed has seen several emails sent by an employee at McGrath, who refused Alex’s multiple requests for an extension on his eviction notice. Alex has been given until August 19 to vacate the property. ... Leo Patterson Ross, chief executive of Tenants Union NSW, told The Feed that no-grounds evictions are still possible during Greater Sydney’s lockdown. Mr Patterson Ross said the union has heard from a man who was given a 30-day notice to vacate his property after he objected to house inspections during the lockdown. “Tenants are very vulnerable. People are worried about the consequences of having to move, particularly at the moment,” Mr Patterson Ross said.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/stressful-sydney-tenants-se…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction, Privacy and access, Coronavirus COVID-19, Landlords and agents.Families turn to portable cabins as rental prices soar
Rachel Moore (No paywall)From New Zealand ... Families are turning to backyard solutions to house loved ones as the national housing crisis limits other options. The rental house market in Horowhenua is like much of New Zealand, the few properties that are available are out of reach for most. When two teenagers showed up on Nina Pilkington’s doorstep, her Shannon home was already out of space for the extended family. But she was not out of aroha. Renting a one-room cabin for them next to the house was the only apparent solution. (Stuff)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/housing-affordability/3…
# International, Public and community housing, Homelessness, Young people.‘The market is insane’: Many voters fear home ownership is out of reach for young Australians
David Crowe The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Soaring property prices have fuelled concerns younger Australians will be shut out of the housing market for good, with 60 per cent of voters saying young people in their area will never be able to buy their own homes. ... Only 18 per cent of voters think many young people in their area will be able to buy their own homes, according to a new survey [conducted for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age by research company Resolve Strategic] that challenges government assurances about a boost to confidence from higher prices. ... “Overall, it’s a good thing for the economy when house prices go up as opposed to going down,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on June 18. ... But the survey shows a majority of Australians believe high prices will prevent young people from getting a chance to own their own homes.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-market-is-insane-man…
# Hot topic Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing market, Young people.A wet Canberra winter creates the perfect conditions for mould. Here's what you can do about it
Antoinette Radford ABC (No paywall)When Jessica McConnell moved into her Canberra rental, she was warned that any mould in the home would be her own fault. Now, she realises that warning was a red flag. "Any mould is always the tenant's fault, I think that was the line [the property manager] used," the 28-year-old Canberra renter said. Shortly after she moved into the home, she realised the bathroom was leaking water into the bedroom floor. ... Joel Dignam, executive director at Better Renting said ultimately lessors should take responsibility when houses have structural issues resulting in mould infestations. "We're also looking at structural problems where no matter what the tenant does, there's going to be mould problems," he said. He said it was up to lessors to ensure homes were fit for living. "It's absolutely not fair. These mould issues can pose a big burden on people who might be spending a lot of time dealing with damp, or with mould directly as well as the potential risk to their health," he said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-23/canberra-mould-what-to-do…
# Australia, Rent, Health, Mould.The affordable housing plan that could create $100-a-week rents at no extra cost to taxpayers
Cait Kelly The New Daily (No paywall)Thousands of affordable homes, some costing as little as $100 a week, could be built in inner-city Sydney within four years at no extra cost to the taxpayer, new research from the University of Sydney has shown. ... Gareth Bryant, a political economist from the University of Sydney, said the plan could deliver genuinely affordable homes with rents as low as $100 per week. “Housing is obviously one of the key stress points and key causes of inequality in the city,” Dr Bryant told The New Daily. He said Sydney City Council currently has $600 million in cash sitting in term deposits, earning 0.7 per cent per year. “That money could be put to much better use in terms of making a social difference,” Dr Bryant said. Under the proposal, $200 million would be redirected from low-yield term deposits and co-invested with social housing providers. ... The co-investment plan has been picked up by Greens City of Sydney Lord Mayoral candidate Sylvie Ellsmore, who said local councils had the capacity to step in where state and federal governments were failing.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2021/07/23/housing-a…
# NSW, Affordable housing, Local Government.