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
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.Planning executives shaping NSW's new housing strategy battle to keep their jobs
Amy Greenbank ABC (No paywall)Dozens of planning executives, including those instrumental in developing the Minns government's signature housing reforms, might soon be out of a job. The Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure is on the cusp of losing key staff with decades of experience to deliver on a Labor election promise. Senior planning staff are right now battling it out with their peers to see who will remain in their role. Critics say it's the wrong time to embark on mass job cuts, but others see it as a chance to weed out underperforming executives on fat salaries and remove any duplicate roles. Ahead of the 2023 state election, Premier Chris Minns pledged to shake up the public service by guillotining 15 per cent of senior executives and imposing a two year pay freeze on those remaining.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-08/nsw-minns-government-hous…
# Legal significance NSW, Rent.Rental affordability plunges to worst level on record
Melissa Iaria realestate.com.au (No paywall)Rental affordability in Australia has reached its worst level in at least 17 years, with NSW renters hit hardest, a new report reveals. Low and middle-income households are worst affected by the crisis, which is driven by soaring rents since the pandemic started, and a failure of wages to keep pace according to PropTrack's new Rental Affordability Report. The typical, or median-income household earning $111,000 a year, can now afford to rent the smallest share of properties since records began in 2008. Across the country, just 39% of rentals advertised on realestate.com.au over July to December 2023 were affordable for a typical-income household spending 25% of their income on rent.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/rental-affordability-plunges-…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media NSW, Rent.Sydney at risk of becoming grandchild-less city if housing crisis is not soothed, report finds
Yashee Sharma 9 News (No paywall)Sydney could become known as a grandchild-less city if the housing crisis is not addressed now, a new report has found. The NSW Productivity Commission has today sounded the warning in its housing paper, which revealed the city is losing 7000 people aged 30 to 40 from its population a year Sydney also lost twice as many people as it gained between 2016 and 2021 when 35,000 arrived but 70,000 left. The city is consistently losing population to other states and regional NSW, including working-aged residents between 25 and 64. The report found housing supply has not kept up with demand and is forcing Sydneysiders to pack up and move elsewhere in the search for affordable housing.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/sydney-losing-population-new-r…
# Hot topic NSW, .Rent bidding continues to force potential tenants out of future homes despite crackdown in NSW
Yashee Sharma 9 News (No paywall)Desperate renters have missed out on tenancies as agents have allegedly continued to invite bidding, despite a crackdown. The NSW government last year banned agents from encouraging prospective tenants to place higher offers on rental properties in response to the state's dire housing crisis. Authorities then closed loopholes to prevent landlords and third parties from also soliciting deals in June this year but the practice is believed to be still alive. Prospective tenants have felt "significant pressure" to place higher bids, according to the Tenants Union NSW.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/rent-bidding-alive-in-nsw-desp…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Rent.