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
Rich, poor, educated, newly arrived, separated ... in 1990, researchers started following the lives of 167 babies — this is how it worked out
Daniel Ziffer ABC (No paywall)Is life what you make it? Or does the start you get make you? A study that followed 167 babies, from birth until the age of 34, has some answers. Isabel has travelled the world, gained academic degrees and learned multiple languages. But she hasn't ticked off many of the life milestones she had expected: like owning a house, holding a secure job or starting a family. In recent years Isabel has worked in cafes and relied on her family for housing. "I always thought, especially in my 20s, I would have a kid by 30. And then at 30, I thought I would have a kid by 34. And now I'm like, 'Oh, we'll see.' And I always thought I would sort of be like this 'office person' wearing fancy suits to work," she said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-06/in-1990-researchers-start…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing.Is an AI board advisor ‘a new era’ or ‘a terrible idea’?
Tom Williams Information Age (No paywall)'Alice Ing' charges only $25 per month to perform its role as a board advisor for an Australian real estate institute, despite having a photographic memory, an “encyclopaedic knowledge” and speaking multiple languages. Alice is said to be the first artificial intelligence bot (hence its initials, AI), to be "appointed" a board advisor for an Australian organisation. The bot also comes with its own AI-generated image of a woman of South-East Asian descent wearing a business suit and posing near a bonsai plant. The bot, which runs off OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT system, is an advisor to the board of the Real Estate Institute of New South Wales (REINSW), a peak body for real estate industry workers.
https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2024/is-an-ai-board-advisor--a-new…
# Hot topic Australia, .Renters should look out for these red flags when signing a property lease, experts say
Annika Burgess ABC (No paywall)In a competitive rental market, many people are facing stress and anguish just trying to find a property. So when you finally get your hands on a lease, you may not feel like exerting any bargaining power. But experts say lease agreements are one of the things residential laws do well, ensuring tenant rights are upheld and they can't be caught off guard. And, you still have many rights to challenge lease agreements once they are signed. Here are the red flags and points to look out for to make sure you're getting the real deal.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-08/rental-property-lease-agr…
# Must read Australia, Rent, Starting a tenancy.Christopher Luxon, Chris Bishop open biggest build-to-rent scheme at Resido, Mt Wellington
Anne Gibson NZ Herald (Paywall)New Zealand: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Housing Minister Chris Bishop today opened New Zealand’s largest build-to-rent housing scheme, with Luton saying quality accomodation for tenants was a key to easing this country’s housing shortage.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/christopher-luxon-chris-bish…
# Hot topic International, Rent, Starting a tenancy.Legal service funding can't meet Australia's needs, independent review finds
Georgia Roberts ABC (No paywall)An independent review of legal service funding has found that current levels are insufficient to meet Australia's legal assistance needs, especially help for marginalised groups, which legal services say they have been raising concerns about for years. The Independent Review of the National Legal Assistance Partnership (NLAP), which provides federal and state funding for Legal Aid Commissions, Community Legal Centres, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, was compiled by Dr Warren Mundy, who was asked to consider the future of the partnership and its ability to provide access to legal services. He gave his review to the federal government in March. It was publicly released on Tuesday, just under three months after the government received it.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-29/review-of-legal-services/…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Aboriginal renters.Victoria May Force Landlords To Install Air-Cons In Their Rentals — Big Surprise, They’re Pissed
Lachlan Hodson Pedestrian (No paywall)A new proposal from the Victorian Government could see all rental properties in the state fitted out with air-conditioning, insulation, and draught proofing, meaning renters don’t freeze their nips off in the winter. However, the potential change has one group particularly upset: landlords in Victoria. On June 3, Jacinta Allan‘s government announced a potential change to rental rules that would improve the living standard for renters across the state by raising the minimum heating standards.
https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/victoria-landlords-heating-standa…
# Must read, New policy announcement Australia, Utilities water energy internet.Renters turn to motels and caravan parks in regional Victoria amid housing crisis
Rhiannon Stevens ABC (No paywall)Toni and Billy were looking for a night of respite when they booked into a neat, if slightly forgotten, motel on a grassy plain outside Ballarat in regional Victoria. Unable to secure a rental property and homeless, they wanted to be out of the cold. The couple, who did not want their full names published, had been camping through winter with their children at a free campsite for months. "It was hard," Toni said. "It sucked. It was really stressful. It was gut wrenching." "Trying to apply for houses, you always get knocked back, knocked back, knocked back," Billy added.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-30/renting-housing-crisis-ac…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Land lease communities, Rent, Security and safety, Starting a tenancy.Landlord’s secret Facebook post urging investors to band together to collude on price hikes sparks fury
Shannon Molloy news.com.au (No paywall)A jaw-dropping post in a private Facebook group for landlords has sparked fury from a prominent renter advocate, who says it exposes the true nature of Australian property investors. A member of the closed ‘Landlord’s (sic) Victoria’ group shared a post encouraging fellow investors to “be united” by colluding to increase rent prices uniformly. The user complained that properties in suburbs in outer-Melbourne were achieving “low” rents in comparison to “states like Perth”. The man suggested an organised increase of up to $200- per-week to put combined pressure on the market.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/renting/landlords-se…
# Must read Australia, Rent.