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
Yes, the 1.5 million Australians getting rent assistance need an increase, but more public housing is the lasting fix for the crisis
Liam Davies, Alistair Sisson, David Kelly and Priya Kunjan The Conversation (No paywall)Australia is in the grip of a housing crisis, with low-income households hit hardest by rising rents and falling vacancy rates.
Social housing tenants were insulated from the 10.2% jump in advertised private rental prices in 2022. However, the proportion of people in social housing (an umbrella term covering public and community housing) fell by a fifth, from 4.6% to 3.7%, over the past decade. The Productivity Commission reports social housing waiting lists grew by over 17% in just three years, from 148,520 in 2019 to 174,624 in 2022.
https://theconversation.com/yes-the-1-5-million-australians-gett…
# Hot topic Australia, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Planning and development.Housing Future Fund for 30,000 homes yet to win enough support as Greens hold out over concerns it may fail to work
Jake Evans ABC (No paywall)The government's election commitment to fund 30,000 social and affordable homes over the next five years is at risk of defeat, as the Greens continue threats to vote against it unless the government significantly steps up funding.
If the bill cannot win enough support to pass the Senate, it would be the first major defeat for the government, which made the housing fund a key pillar of the party's federal election campaign.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-27/housing-future-fund-faces…
# Hot topic Australia, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Planning and development.Real estate agents and insiders expose the secret tactics used to lure buyers and sellers
Paul Farrell, Lesley Robinson, and Meghna Bali ABC (No paywall)If you are fortunate enough to try to enter Australia's property market, you have come across its gatekeepers – real estate agents.
You may have suspected price guides were being lowballed, been promised the world by an agent, or felt like you were outright misled.
Four Corners has spoken to more than 100 people — real estate agents, property professionals, buyers and sellers — as part of a crowdsourced investigation into the sector.
These insiders have lifted the veil of secrecy that hangs over how the industry works.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-27/real-estate-agents-reveal…
# Hot topic Australia, Home ownership, Housing market, Renting culture.International students resorting to living in tents
Wing Kuang ABC (No paywall)Tens of thousands of international students have flooded back into Australia this year - putting even more pressure on an already hot rental market - especially in big cities such as Sydney and Melbourne.
Some students have been forced into difficult situations - and have been forced towards radical solutions - such as pitching tents inside crowded apartments to get some privacy.
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/worldtoday/international-s…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media, Audio Australia, Housing market, Personal stories, Students.Why higher interest rates aren't to blame for the rental crisis
Angus Moore realestate.com.au (No paywall)In the past year, most parts of the country have seen median advertised rent prices on realestate.com.au rising in the order of 10%.
With rents growing so quickly, there have been concerns expressed that the Reserve Bank is worsening the rental crisis, by hiking interest rates by 3.5 percentage points in less than a year.
Landlords are facing substantially higher mortgage costs, and that’s forcing them to raise rents – or so the argument goes.
https://www.realestate.com.au/insights/why-higher-interest-rates…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.Rent crisis creating production line of evictions - tenant
Jennifer McKiernan and Caroline Gall BBC (No paywall)A woman fighting eviction says the renting crisis must be addressed as she is seeing a "production line" of families losing their homes.
Sam Lowe, from Oldbury in the West Midlands, said her landlord had started eviction proceedings against her a month after her mother died last year.
She was part of a rally at Downing Street on Tuesday calling for more security for tenants.
A government spokesperson said it was committed to a fairer deal for renters.
Jeremy Hunt ‘ignored UK housing emergency’ in 2023 Budget, say charities
Lucie Heath inews.co.uk (No paywall)The charities, which included Shelter and Generation Rent, said it was ‘outrageous’ that housing benefits remain frozen at levels set in 2020.
The Chancellor has been accused of “ignoring the housing emergency” after his latest Budget contained little support for private renters and people facing homelessness.
In an open letter to Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak, shared with i, a group of national housing organisations said the Budget contained no measures “to support the millions of struggling private renters who are grappling with rapidly rising rents in the cost-of-living crisis”.
https://inews.co.uk/news/jeremy-hunt-uk-housing-emergency-2023-b…
# Hot topic International, Homelessness, Housing affordability, International.Rental Health: Solutions
Kirsty Lang BBC (No paywall)As the cost of rent continues to rise across the UK, Kirsty Lang looks for solutions. This is the first of a series of five programmes which explore some radical alternatives.
Sixty per cent of Vienna’s population lives in subsidised housing. And that reduces the cost of private rental accommodation too. Kirsty finds out the secret of the city’s housing success and gets a tour of a local resident’s home.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001kgq5?partner=uk.co.bbc&ori…
# Hot topic, Audio International, Affordable housing, International, Long-term tenant.