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
London council ordered to pay family of seven £6,000 after leaving them in one-bedroom flat during pandemic
James Wilmore Inside Housing (Paywall)A London council has agreed to pay a family of seven £6,000 after they were left living in a one-bedroom flat for more than a year during the early stages of the pandemic.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/london-council-ordered…
# International, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness, Local Government.Did Boomers or Millennials have it harder buying a house? We try to answer this age-old question
Emilia Terzon ABC (No paywall)I was on a suburban street filming a story about young people struggling to get into the housing market, when a woman unpacking groceries in her driveway asked about my topic. ... This generation is greedy," she concluded. On the other side of the footpath, it's not unusual to hear Millennials malign their parents for negative gearing their way to retirement, and inflating prices for today's buyers along the way.
So which generation had it harder buying a home? ... [Take the words of 28-year-old single-mother, Shana]: "I've basically come to terms with the fact that I will be renting for the rest of my life, until maybe I inherit something from somewhere. Or I marry someone very rich," she jokes.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-19/housing-buy-home-millenni…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.The homes with the largest price drops in the cooling market
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Smaller houses have taken the biggest hit to property prices in the cooling Sydney and Melbourne markets, with buyers less willing to compromise on the size or quality of their next home.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-homes-with-the-largest-…
# Australia, Housing market.Greater Housing Density Would Mean a Better Shot at Grants Under New Biden Plan
Kery Murakami (No paywall)The White House wants to drive down housing prices by boosting the supply of homes. President Biden, as part of his effort to persuade Americans he’s trying to lower consumer costs, laid out a plan Monday to reduce home prices. The most significant initiative would give extra points for transportation dollars to states and localities that allow more multifamily housing in areas reserved for single-family homes.
https://www.route-fifty.com/infrastructure/2022/05/white-house-w…
# International, Federal Government, Housing market, Planning and development.Tenant News
Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)Lots to read:
'Federal Election 2022' ... The National Association of Tenants' Organisations, of which the Tenants' Union of NSW is a member, wrote to all larger parties inviting them to respond our Federal Election Questionnaire. Read the parties' responses here.
'Full house' ... Renters who live in share houses and boarding houses face additional challenges and complexities.
'Forced to live in unsafe homes' ... The recent flood and storm disasters continue to affect many renters. Too many flood victims are still homeless, and some have been kicked out of caravan parks to make way for tourists
https://us3.campaign-archive.com/?u=29c79d2825cb376b3f0b06385&id…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Boarders and lodgers, Public and community housing, Rent, Security and safety, Utilities electricity water gas, Climate change, Federal Government, Housing affordability, Housing market, Welfare.May 2022 News
Shelter NSW (No paywall)In this month's edition:
Federal Election story – time to redefine The Great Australian Dream
Battle for Waterloo – Shelter NSW cannot support the proposal
Out and about – Western NSW Disability Housing Forum
Shelter NSW Members Meeting - Climate-ready housing
A Future Greater Sydney – opportunities of an expanding rail network
27,000 new dwellings in Parramatta – how many will be affordable?
Report launch from Regional Australia Institute – Building the Good Life
Northern Rivers reconstruction efforts
Affordable Housing Isn’t Cheap! - Shelter NSW at the Housing and Homelessness Forum
Glebe Stories
Airbnb vs New York City - Housing podcast recommendation
Healthy Homes 4 Renters – Apply to be a Winter Renter Researcher!
https://mailchi.mp/shelternsw/shelter-nsw-may-2022-ebulletin?e=9…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Campaigns and law reform, Climate change, Disability, Estate renewal, Home ownership, Homelessness, International, Minimum habitability standards, Planning and development, Regional NSW, Short-term holiday letting.‘Hot political real estate’: how powerful will renters be this election?
Rachel Dexter The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Renters represent a greater proportion of voters in key battleground seats this election and could be a powerful voting bloc, but say they have been largely ignored in favour of homeowners. ... In 11 of the seats with a high proportion of renters, more than half of all tenants are also experiencing rental stress – paying more than 30 per cent of their income on rent, according to a 2021 UNSW City Futures Research Centre report. ... Leo Patterson Ross, from the National Association of Tenants Organisations, was cautious when asked if renters would become as powerful a voting bloc as homeowners. “Across the country, 30 per cent would usually be enough [for a bloc]. There’s a smaller proportion of people over 70 than there are renters, for example. But the difference is that renters haven’t really seen themselves as a group. That’s not their primary identity and that’s not necessarily how they engage with politics,” he said.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/hot-political-real-estat…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Rent, Federal Government.Up them for the rent: State's new low in how to lose friends and alienate people
Robert MacDonald (No paywall)The State Government could have avoided a fight with the Real Estate Institute of Queensland and Tenants Queensland just by talking to them. ... At the heart of the disagreement is the nearly $1 billion of the rental bonds paid by Queensland tenants and held in a trust account by the Government’s Rental Tenancy Authority (RTA). The RTA is self-funded and relies on the dividend income from the trust account to run its activities. In March this year, the Government proposed a change. It now wants to fund the RTA from consolidated revenue and transfer the bond money from the RTA’s investment account into a cash account. It’s not technically a cash grab. The Government says it won’t be touching the money. So why do it?
https://inqld.com.au/insights/2022/05/09/up-them-for-the-rent-st…
# Australia, Bond, State Government.