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
Have your say about keeping pets in rental homes
RSPCA RSPCA (No paywall)RSPCA NSW is encouraging animal lovers across the state to have their say about pets in rental homes.
Currently, landlords in NSW can refuse to allow a tenant to keep a pet without providing a reason unless it’s an assistance animal. With 70 percent of Australian households owning at least one pet, these current restrictions can present serious obstacles for renters and their companion animals, often resulting in traumatic and heartbreaking outcomes.
https://www.rspcansw.org.au/blog/media-releases/have-their-say-a…
# Hot topic NSW, Pets.Homes for people: Housing solutions for everyone
TUNSW (No paywall)In November, the Tenants' Union of NSW, along with our Homes for People coalition partners, launched the election advocacy platform Homes for People: Housing Solutions for Everyone at a briefing event at NSW Parliament House.
Homes for People is a coalition of NSW housing campaigns - including Make Renting Fair, Building Better Homes, Healthy Homes for Renters, and Ageing on the Edge. We came together to give focus to the problems many people face in relation to housing. We are calling for housing reform that will create the homes people want and need; homes that provide shelter, safety, stability, and comfort.
https://www.tenants.org.au/news/homes-people-housing-solutions-e…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction, Privacy and access, Rent, Disability.Electricity is a hot topic but little has changed for residents in land lease communities
Julia Davis (No paywall)There have been a number of consultations, reviews and inquiries into electricity in NSW over the past couple of years. The Tenants’ Union provided submissions to a number of these inquiries raising the numerous issues that are impacting renters in NSW around electricity.
A couple of months ago Eloise Parrab (Land Lease Communities Officer) and Jemima Mowbray (Policy & Advocacy Manager) from the Tenants’ Union were invited to be witnesses at the NSW Government Law and Safety Committee Inquiry into Embedded Networks in NSW. In our submission and at a parliamentary hearing we put forward to the committee the issues and problems faced by residents living in residential land lease communities where they have embedded networks. We made recommendations on how to resolve these issues.
https://www.tenants.org.au/thenoticeboard/news/electricity-hot-t…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Land lease communities, Utilities electricity water gas.Tenants' Union Annual Report 2021-22
TUNSW (No paywall)The 2021-2022 financial year began with Sydney under a strict four-month lockdown to curb an outbreak of the delta coronavirus variant and finished with severe weather, flooding, and a deepening housing crisis across NSW.
Through these challenging times, the Tenants' Union has maintained our resilience and deep commitment to supporting NSW renters. Whether it's through online resources, advocacy or supporting the advice provided by the network of Tenants Advice and Advocacy Services, the Tenants' Union works with and for renters, for housing justice.
Almost 1 million affordable homes needed by 2041 for most at risk
Shane Wright and Rachel Clun The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Almost 1 million households, many in Sydney and Melbourne, face housing stress or living in unsuitable accommodation over the next two decades unless there is a ramp-up in community housing.
Ahead of the federal government’s first meeting of financial leaders to discuss its Housing Accord, research to be released on Tuesday shows demand for proper housing aimed at low-income earners will climb more than 50 per cent by 2041 in many parts of the country.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/almost-1-million-afforda…
# Research alert NSW, Public and community housing, Housing affordability, Sydney.A Major Government Housing Policy Will Only Deliver 184 New Affordable Homes, Analysis Finds
John Buckley Vice (No paywall)Only 2 percent of the 1 million homes being promised by the Housing Accord will be affordable. All of them are in Greater Darwin.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/88q7ap/a-major-government-housin…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Housing affordability.Do tenancy reforms to protect renters cause landlords to exit the market? No, but maybe they should
Chris Martin, Milad Ghasri, Sharon Parkinson, Zoe Goodall The Conversation (No paywall)More Australians are renting their housing longer than in the past. But they have relatively little legal security against rent increases and evictions compared to tenants in other countries. When state governments suggest stronger protections for tenants, landlords and real estate agents claim it will cause disinvestment from the sector, increasing pressure on already tight rental markets.
https://theconversation.com/do-tenancy-reforms-to-protect-renter…
# Must read, Research alert Australia, Campaigns and law reform, Landlords and agents, No-grounds evictions, State Government.Rental repression
Nick Sas ABC (No paywall)The rental squeeze is tightening across the country and more and more Australians are trapped. So, how bad is it out there?
Maddy Parsons never thought it’d turn out this way.
For almost 15 years she’s been a renter, jumping from share house to share house, moving, she reckons, “about 13 times”.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-29/australia-rental-crisis-h…
# TUNSW in the media, Research alert Australia, Rent, Affordable housing, Housing affordability.