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
Talkback — what would it take for people to downsize?
Greg Muller ABC (No paywall)Part of Australia's housing affordability problem is a mismatch between need and supply. Australia is experiencing a housing crisis and at the same time, one in ten houses are vacant and there are 13 million spare bedrooms. This week the government will introduce more legislation to encourage people to downsize, or 'rightsize'. But with tax advantages encouraging the opposite, government policies are creating both push and pull factors. (ABC Radio National)
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/talkba…
# Audio Australia, Families, Housing affordability, Housing market, Tax.Tenants angered as Brisbane building owner seeks to turn all units into Airbnb accommodation
Eden Gillespie and Ben Smee The Guardian (No paywall)Tenants at a South Brisbane unit block say they are feeling angry and disappointed after receiving notices to leave so that all of the building’s apartments can be listed on Airbnb. One tenant said she was only recently told of the move by the building’s owner to turn all nine apartments into short-term rentals, describing it as “unfair” amid the city’s housing crisis. “All of the tenants are long-term renters who have lived in the building for years. There are families living downstairs,” she told Guardian Australia. She said she was concerned she would struggle to find another affordable apartment to live in, with rents rising at the fastest rate in 14 years.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/07/tenants-a…
# Australia, Rent, Short-term holiday letting.The UK needs better insulated homes to free us from Putin and the fossil fuel giants
Helena Bennett The Guardian (No paywall)Government investment should be targeted at cutting bills by cutting waste. Until then we will remain dependent. ... The cost of living crisis is due almost entirely to Putin’s war in Ukraine and his unrivalled chokehold on Europe’s gas supply. Soaring energy bills in the UK are being driven by international markets. ... Continuing to pursue fossil fuels to meet an impossible end is fruitless, and panders only to the oil and gas industries, which continue to exaggerate the scale of reinvestment in “clean energy security”.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/13/uk-better-…
# International, Utilities water energy internet, Climate change, International.Australia’s spiralling homelessness crisis
Rick Morton (Paywall)In 2008 Labor pledged to halve homelessness, instead it exploded in a decade of Coalition leadership. Now a new national agreement must tackle a ‘vicious spiral’ of unaffordable housing and poverty. (The Saturday Paper) Also, listen to his podcast entitled: 'Why being a renter is getting more expensive' at: [https://7ampodcast.com.au/episodes/why-being-a-renter-is-getting-more-expensive] (7ampodcast)
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2022/09/10/aus…
# Australia, Rent, Federal Government, Homelessness.Housing part 2 - rent
ABC (No paywall)Rent is one of those simple market economy mechanisms that seem very natural, as though it's an organic outgrowth of human society. But in fact, rent has a philosophical history, and one that's been traced in a new book by this week's guest. (ABC Radio National) More about the book at: [https://www.booktopia.com.au/rent-joe-collins/book/9781509539062.html]
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/philosopherszone/h…
# Audio NSW, Rent, History.‘Unprecedented’: Housing crisis gets even worse as affordability plunges
Matthew Elmas The New Daily (No paywall)Australia’s housing crisis has become even worse as soaring rents and near-record low vacancy rates combine with higher interest rates to squeeze millions of people who don’t own property. That’s the latest from the Real Estate Institute of Australia, which has tracked further declines in affordability for would-be buyers and renters over the June quarter, despite recent falls in national property prices.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2022/09/14/housi…
# Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.Perrottet’s stamp duty reform dream may be gazumped
Alexandra Smith The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Dominic Perrottet has made no secret of the fact that there is one reform agenda he wants as his legacy, but time is not on the premier’s side. The mourning period for the Queen this week – followed by a surprise public holiday – has left him just 17 days to overhaul one of the most politically fraught taxes before the state election in March. If Perrottet is to reform stamp duty – the hugely lucrative tax which generated more revenue for NSW in 2021/22 than payroll tax – he will need legislation to pass both houses before NSW parliament rises for the poll. That is looking increasingly ambitious as the clock ticks down on this final sitting period.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/perrottet-s-stamp-duty-refor…
# NSW, Housing market, State Government, Tax.NIMBYs make housing unaffordable: Grattan Institute
Rachel Clun The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)NIMBY campaigns have helped drive up house prices and rents, a leading economist has argued, as younger Australians are shut out of the market by opposition to high-density developments. In a speech on Wednesday night, Grattan Institute economic policy director Brendan Coates said soaring house and land values “sit at the heart of some of Australia’s most pressing policy challenges”. Also, read Nino Bucci's article entitled: 'High-density development and better rent assistance key to addressing Australia’s housing crisis, economist says' in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/15/high-density-development-and-better-rent-assistance-key-to-addressing-housing-crisis-economist-says]
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/nimbys-make-housing-unaf…
# Australia, Rent, Federal Government, Housing market, Planning and development, State Government, Tax.