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
Should the government freeze rents for two years? The Greens think it is a no-brainer, but economists are less certain
Claudia Long ABC (No paywall)The federal Greens are calling for a nationwide two-year freeze on rent increases as part of a plan to ease pressure on tenants. The minor party are also pitching an end to no-grounds eviction, ongoing rent caps of up to 2 per cent every 24 months, expanding tenant rights and national minimum standards for rental properties. But economists are warning the freeze may not be the right solution to Australia's housing crisis. ... [Nevertheless] Mr Coates is not entirely against the Greens' plan and said an end to no-grounds eviction would be a good move. "Being evicted without cause is incredibly costly for many people… we're in a world now where as home ownership is falling, more people are renting for longer, including when they've got families and they need the stability and security as they build their lives around where their childcare centre is, where their school is and ultimately where they work," he said. "So ending no grounds evictions is a no-brainer and pushing for better rental tenancy conditions that basically allow people to make the house their home is a really good idea. It's something that we've needed for a long time and if we saw that happen with federal government leadership, that would be fantastic."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-25/should-the-government-fre…
# Australia, Rent, Home, Landlords and agents, No-grounds evictions.Landlord reveals he owns almost 300 properties in talkback radio call
Amelia Hurst 9 News (No paywall)A caller to Sydney's 2GB has revealed he owns almost 300 rental properties as he argued against a political call to freeze rents for two years amid Australia's current cost-of-living crisis. Speaking to Ben Fordham on Sydney's 2GB this morning, a caller known only as "David" said the he owns 283 rental properties, but defended himself saying he bought his first one when he was just 17. "I've worked hard for that," he said. ... The conversation was sparked after Queensland greens member for Griffith, Max Chandler-Mather called on the government to introduce a "emergency rent freeze" to ease pressure for tenants. "We've got families sleeping in their cars, workers unable to afford a home near where they work, people being evicted from their homes because they can't afford 20% rent increases and the governments just sitting on their hands when they have the capacity to intervene and stop the worst of this crisis," Mr Chandler-Mather said.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/2gb-caller-reveals-investment-…
# Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Housing own goal worsens our inflation problem
Ross Gittens The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A key part of the economic response to the pandemic was to rev up the housing industry. It’s boomed and now it’s busting. What’s been achieved? Mainly, a big, self-inflicted addition to our inflation problem. That, and a lot of recent first-home buyers now getting their fingers burnt. Well done, guys. ... What trouble the econocrats get us into when they use housing as a macro managers’ plaything.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/housing-own-goal-wor…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Dig-up date looms in WA council’s war of the roses with great-grandfather
Ezra Holt and Cameron Myles The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A 92-year-old great-grandfather has until the end of the month to remove his award-winning roses from the verge outside his house or face the wrath of the City of Rockingham council. Trevor Coster was told in May he had to rip up or relocate the roses he started planting more than a decade ago because the thorny bushes apparently posed a threat to passersby.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/dig-up-date-lo…
# Australia, Local Government, Neighbours.‘I feel so guilty’: the highs, lows, and hustle of New York housing brokers
Carey Dunne The Guardian (No paywall)When Keyan Sanai moved to Manhattan and started working as a real estate broker in 2014 ... his first few years as a broker were rough. Working at a “boiler room” brokerage, he got acquainted with what he calls the “dark underbelly” of the industry. “The script is basically to lie to people: ‘Put up [an ad] that says ‘no fee’, and once you get ’em in, say, ‘Oh, that’s rented, but I have something else,’” he recalls managers telling him. He says they insisted their employees “just get [the client] out to the appointment, then pump the fear and pressure them into making a decision”. “I was like, ‘Ahh, I can’t do that,’” Sanai says. After three years of scraping by as a broker, he personalized a more ethical approach to renting, switched agencies, and became Douglas Elliman’s top-ranked New York rental agent in 2019. ... For renters who make less than $160,000 a year – the minimum required to secure a $4,000 rental – the housing crisis can mean spending months searching for an affordable apartment, or being priced out of a neighborhood long called home. But for many rental agents, it’s been a boon for business.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/22/nyc-real-estate-…
# International, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Landlords and agents.Agencies help Coopernook State Forest campers find housing after homelessness
Wiriya Sati ABC (No paywall)When Mick Kruetz hears the rain fall outside, he feels an immense sense of gratitude for the roof over his head. A year ago, Mick was part of a community of men permanently camping in the Coopernook State Forest on the NSW mid-north coast after finding themselves homeless. They were eventually moved on from the site by Forestry Corporation, which doesn't allow permanent camping. ... Mr Kruetz is one of three campers who have managed to find more permanent housing amid a severe housing crisis on the mid-north coast. With the help of agencies including Samaritans and Home in Place, Mr Kruetz is now settled in a one-bedroom apartment where he can live with his much-loved dog.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-24/homeless-bush-campers-nsw…
# NSW, Homelessness, Regional NSW.China’s property market is in freefall. What does this mean for the world economy?
Keyu Jin The Guardian (No paywall)The sector is dangerously overheated – but unlike the 2008 financial crisis, the global ripple effect is likely to be limited ... The property sector in the Chinese economy has always been something of a puzzle. At its peak, it accounted for a quarter of the nation’s economic output, broadly measured. And it sees people in Beijing and Shanghai paying house prices similar to those in San Francisco and New York, despite having just a quarter the income of American buyers. Now many believe that we are about to see a violent contraction of the property market in China. The government wants to intervene to curb speculation, and rein in what it calls the “three high” problem: high prices, high debt and high financialisation. The approach has been nothing short of dramatic. Financing for property developers has tanked. Earlier this year, property sales declined by as much as 20-30%, in-progress developments are not being completed and people have taken to the streets, banding together to stop mortgage payments on such projects in protest. [Read on]
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/23/china-prop…
# International, Housing market, Landlords and agents.New Australian houses might need a total redesign. Here's why some states won't change construction codes
Annie Guest ABC (No paywall)Should newly built homes have to be accessible for frail elderly people or people with a disability? Aged and disability advocates certainly think so, and they're urging a meeting of housing ministers on Friday to push for agreement on national accessible building standards. But at least three states have already opted out.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-23/australian-houses-might-n…
# Australia, Disability, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards, Older people, State Government.