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
Kean’s budget bid to make the 11-year-old Coalition look brand new
Alexandra Smith The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)NSW Treasurer Matt Kean had a very clear objective in mind on Tuesday. For Kean, this budget - the final before the state election - was designed to redefine the Coalition. .... NSW Budget: Winners: First home buyers ... Experts say stamp duty adds a further two-and-a-half years to an average worker’s journey in saving for a house deposit. Under the new First Home Buyer Choice scheme, house hunters can choose to opt out of stamp duty by paying an annual levy of $400 plus 0.3 per cent of the land value of the property. Eligible first-home buyers can choose to join the scheme from January 16 next year.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/kean-s-budget-bid-to-make-th…
# NSW, Housing market, Tax.‘Getting onto the wait list is a battle in itself’: insiders on what it takes to get social housing
Alan Morris, Andrew Clarke, Cameron Parsell, Catherine Robinson and Jan Idle The Conversation (No paywall)Social housing has become extremely difficult to access; in 2021 around 160,000 households were on the waiting list. To have any chance of getting a social housing spot in a reasonable time frame, applicants must be on the priority waiting list; people on the general waiting list may never get social housing. However, to get on the priority list, applicants need to ... prove they are massively disadvantaged.
https://theconversation.com/getting-onto-the-wait-list-is-a-batt…
# Must read Australia, Public and community housing.NSW government urged to act on rental crisis and social housing ahead of state budget
Tamsin Rose and Stephanie Convery The Guardian (No paywall)A rental crisis and a bloated waitlist for social housing has sparked calls for the New South Wales government to do more to help the sector despite treasurer, Matt Kean, suggesting no substantial investments will be announced in Tuesday’s state budget. ... Despite pleas from housing advocates to increase its investment in social housing, the government has primarily focused on homebuyers ahead of the budget, with a $780m shared equity scheme announced on Sunday, alongside $500m for housing planning and infrastructure reforms. ... But the Community Housing Industry Association’s (CHIA) NSW head of policy, Caitlin McDowell, said more needed to be done to help more than 50,000 families waiting for social housing spots – a number that could grow. ... An open letter to the premier, signed by the state’s top housing bodies including CHIA NSW, Shelter NSW and urban thinktank the Committee for Sydney, called for affordable housing to be dealt with in the budget. Also, read Peter Hannam's and Tamsin Rose's article entitled: 'NSW state budget 2022: lessons learned from Coalition election losses' in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/21/nsw-state-budget-2022-analysis-new-south-wales]. Read Tamsin Rose's and Peter Hannam's article entitled: 'NSW state budget 2022: vouchers for schoolchildren, stamp duty reform and a forecast surplus in 2024-25' in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/21/nsw-state-budget-2022-new-south-wales]
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/21/nsw-gover…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Home ownership, State Government, Tax.Lack of affordable housing set to cost Australia $25b a year
Josh Gordon The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Businesses are increasingly struggling to find and retain workers who can afford to live within an acceptable commuting range, with a major new study warning a chronic lack of affordable housing is set to cost taxpayers $25 billion a year if nothing is done. ... The study, by public policy consultants SGS Economics and Planning, found decades of under-investment had triggered a collapse in the proportion of the housing stock regarded as affordable. You can download the report at: [https://housingallaustralians.org.au/whatwedo/give-me-shelter/]
https://www.smh.com.au/national/lack-of-affordable-housing-set-t…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing.'I don’t mind camping, but I won’t sleep in the car’: what happens when superannuation keeps failing women
Stephanie Wood The Guardian (No paywall)Sandra, for example, has a small nest egg but no super and barely survives on the other arm of the retirement income system, the age pension. When she first emailed me, she described herself as “homeless”. “I’ve been housesitting for eight years to alleviate the homelessness.”
Sandra is 76, doesn’t own a property, is a transient house-sitter, has a couple of hundred thousand dollars in a fixed-term deposit and nothing in superannuation. Sarah is in her mid-forties, rents the house she lives in with her three daughters and has $40,000 in superannuation. ... When Sandra hasn’t been able to get a house-sit, or that time she broke her arm, she has stayed with supportive friends and family. She thinks about other options. “A motor home is looking good and I’ve also got a tent on the top of my car; I don’t mind camping, I’m not averse to roughing it,” she says. “But I won’t sleep in the car. That’s one thing I won’t be doing.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/19/i-dont-mi…
# Australia, Homelessness, Housing market, Women, Work, employment.Swapping stamp duty for land tax would push down house prices but push up apartment prices, new modelling finds
Jason Nassios and James Giesecke The Conversation (No paywall)In Tuesday’s budget, NSW will announce a switch from stamp duty to land tax. It will become the second Australian jurisdiction to do so, with the ACT halfway through a 20-year switchover. Homebuyers who accept the offer will be taxed annually on the value of their land, instead of hit with an upfront fee (that averaged $50,000 for Sydney in 2018) when they buy. Once they have accepted, their property will be out of the stamp duty system and subject only to land tax for future owners.
https://theconversation.com/swapping-stamp-duty-for-land-tax-wou…
# NSW, Housing market, Tax.Student accommodation like we’ve never seen before wins praise
Julie Power The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Now new light-filled student accommodation by Sydney firm Architectus in the middle of Macquarie University’s central square precinct – shortlisted for national architecture, design, and innovation awards – is part of a growing trend to reinvent co-housing. ... The new student accommodation – with apartments for one, two, four, or six people – has been placed at the centre of the campus instead of the outskirts. It is next to the new library, a green square, teaching areas, tutorial rooms, restaurants, bars, study spaces and nooks.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/student-accommodation-like-w…
# NSW, Share houses, Students.First home buyers given land tax option in Perrottet’s stamp duty overhaul
Alexandra Smith The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)First home buyers who opt into the centrepiece reform of Tuesday’s state budget will pay an annual levy of $400 and a 0.3 per cent tax on the value of their land in exchange for avoiding a crippling upfront stamp duty impost. ... As part of a broader housing policy, the government will also trial a shared equity scheme for first home buyers to help nurses, teachers, and police officers enter the housing market. The government will contribute an equity share up to 40 per cent for a new property or up to 30 per cent for an existing property under $950,000 in Sydney and other major regional centres. Also, read Ashleigh Raper's article entitled: 'NSW Premier goes ahead with stamp duty reform as first home buyers allowed to opt out' on the ABC at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-21/dominic-perrottet-nsw-premier-stamp-duty-budget-reform-2022/101168538]. Read the article by Tom Rabe entitled: 'Two-thirds of eligible first home buyers expected to choose land tax' in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/two-thirds-of-eligible-first-home-buyers-expected-to-choose-land-tax-20220621-p5avg0.html]. Read the article by Alexandra Smith, Tom Rabe and Lucy Cormack entitled: 'What we know so far about the NSW budget' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/what-we-know-so-far-about-the-nsw-budget-20220617-p5auls.html?instance=2022-06-21-06-42-AEST&jobid=29395657&list_name=E2446F7A-1897-44FC-8EB8-B365900170E3&mbnr=MTA3Mzk4Njg&promote_channel=edmail&utm_campaign=am-smh&utm_content=shortlist_for_barilaros_role_thrown_out&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=2022-06-21] Read Maryanne Taouk's article entitled: 'NSW budget 2022: Here are the winners and losers' ... with 'Renters' as losers in ABC at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-21/nsw-budget-2022-winners-and-losers/101139608]
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/first-home-buyers-given-land…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Rent, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, State Government, Tax.