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
Why would anyone bother being a landlord?
The Australian (Paywall)Opinion: Various levels of government, local councils, banks and insurers have slugged property investors with ever higher level of fees while portraying them as greedy and immoral.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/why-would-anyone-bothe…
# Australia, Landlords and agents.Large tracts of Perth land to be released, but do little to alleviate housing crisis in short term, experts say
Tabarak Al Jrood ABC (No paywall)Large tracts of land primarily in Perth's outer suburbs will be released in a bid to alleviate housing shortages, but experts want greater focus on smart infill models that don't exacerbate urban sprawl. WA's current rental vacancy rate is at its lowest level in more than a decade, with rates for houses and units in the greater Perth region dipping to 0.6 per cent and 1 per cent respectively. To help ease this, the WA government has released 13 planning sites to build new homes in, as part of its "Perth to Peel @ 3.5 million" framework. ... Anglicare WA's CEO Mark Glasson welcomed the announcement but said other measures were needed to support disadvantaged people in the meantime. "Until that land gets released, we'd be calling for rent assistance [because] we need to support people to stay in their housing where they are." He said the government should also be looking at setting aside some of the land for social housing.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-27/perth-land-being-released…
# Australia, Affordable housing, Housing market, State Government.Density is not a dirty word – unless you’re protecting your privileged patch
Philip Bull The Fifth Estate (No paywall)Like ego, density is not a dirty word, or is it? If you follow some of the recent density debates in this town you might think it is the dirtiest of words. The impending density nightmare in Sydney’s Inner West (thanks for that headline BTW SMH) might have you confused. The nightmare isn’t the housing crisis in this city but the mental anguish the settled and privileged suffer when the thought of the mere possibility of using their land more efficiently to house others is raised. First world problems.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/columns/spinifex/density-is-not-a-…
# NSW, Housing market, Local Government, Planning and development, Sydney.Flood-affected Northern Rivers residents say trauma compounded by lack of government plans
Leah White ABC (No paywall)Like thousands of Northern Rivers residents, Crystal Lenane and her family are living in limbo. It has been seven months since the family lost everything in the record-breaking February flood. Despite having their East Lismore house raised to a height of three metres a month earlier, floodwater still reached the height of the window sills. "We've been in limbo-land since that day in terms of what to do next and where to go from here," Ms Lenane said. In the wake of the disaster, the family purchased a caravan to live in at a cost of $80,000. Ms Lenane said it was more than they would have liked to spend, but a supply shortage left few options.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-27/flood-affected-nsw-reside…
# NSW, Housing market, Regional NSW.The Great Australian Pipedream: rising house prices make us feel wealthier
Ross Gittins The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)So, house prices aren’t high because we don’t have enough houses to accommodate every household. They’re high because some houses are better than others – bigger, newer, flashier, or better located, nearer the beach, nearer other well-off people, or nearer the centre of the city – and we compete with others to get the best we can (barely) afford. And because many home owners want to own more than one, as an investment.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/the-great-australian…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Aged care residents to be forced out of westside facility
Tony Moore The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The sale of 2.5 hectares of prime riverfront land in Brisbane will force about 50 aged care residents, some needing high care, to find new homes. Residents learnt on Monday that Bethany Christian Care will sell its river-frontage Beth Eden property next year because it says it is too old to renovate and too expensive to redevelop.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/queensland/aged-care-residents-t…
# Australia, Eviction, Older people.Is it time to buy the worst house in the best street yet?
Elizabeth Redman The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Conventional wisdom suggests buying the worst house in the best street and renovating it, but buyers are avoiding fixer-uppers in droves as construction costs rise.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/is-it-time-to-buy-the-worst…
# Australia, Housing market.Surge in ‘no-fault evictions’ prompts calls to renew UK-wide ban
Robert Booth The Guardian (No paywall)The number of renting households made homeless because of “no-fault” evictions has surged higher than pre-pandemic levels, sparking fresh calls for the government to ban the practice. Close to 20,000 households in England were made homeless by landlords using section 21 notices in 2021/22, up from almost 9,000 the previous financial year, “alarming” new government figures reveal. Housing activists complain no-fault notices are sometimes used to trigger “revenge evictions” if tenants complain about conditions or rent rises. This week the former head of the civil service, Sir Bob Kerslake, warned of a “catastrophic” homelessness crisis unless the government reintroduced the eviction ban that protected tenants during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Conservative government promised in 2019 to end the practice, but it has yet to pass legislation.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/sep/22/surge-in-no-faul…
# Must read International, Eviction, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness, Landlords and agents, No-grounds evictions.