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
Social landlords should work together to address the growing threat of cyberattacks
Goher Mohammed Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Data breaches and cyberattacks threaten the relationship of trust between tenants and landlords ... Gone are the days when banks, e-commerce and technology companies were the only victims of cybercriminals. Information security breaches are an all-too-common occurrence in today’s world and are now recognised as one of the biggest risks facing social landlords. Whether it’s legacy technology leaving security holes in our systems, or an easily compromised infrastructure environment caused by a lack of proactive management, the sector has become associated with a dated – and somewhat risky – approach.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/comment/social-landlords…
# International, Public and community housing, Landlords and agents.Not everyone who owns a home wants it to soar in value
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)John Howard famously said he had never met anyone who complained about their house going up in value, but there are some homeowners who might beg to differ. With house prices spiralling in the past two years, the Bank of Mum and Dad has become one of the top mortgage lenders in the country. But there are plenty of mums and dads who do not want to run a bank, and many who wish their house had not shot up in value because it locks their children out of the market and risks their retirement when raiding their nest-egg to help their offspring.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/not-everyone-who-owns-a-hom…
# NSW, Families, Home ownership, Housing market.Mortgage repayments and inflation risks rise but joblessness to improve
Jennifer Duke and Shane Wright The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Homeowners will feel the crunch of higher mortgage repayments while pay rises will be eaten up by inflation until next year, some of the nation’s pre-eminent economists believe, despite unemployment on track to reach 50-year lows.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/mortgage-repayments-and-…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.Floods, storms and your tenancy
(No paywall)Renting in Queensland and affected by floods and storms? If you want to leave or want to negotiate rent, here’s what to do.
https://www.rent.com.au/blog/queensland-floods-storms-tenancy
# Australia, Rent.Fairer housing should mean those who have, help those who have not
Jenny Smith The Age (Paywall)The prospects of those struggling in Victoria’s increasingly unaffordable rental market has just dimmed, considerably. The small Social and Affordable Housing Contribution, to be paid by developers, would have funded 1700 new social and affordable rental homes a year and made an enormous difference to Victorian families in desperate need of a home. But the contribution was vigorously opposed by the development industry – and ultimately defeated. The need for this housing is stark when you know that in 2020-2021, 64,570 Victorians came to homelessness services seeking help to access medium or long-term accommodation, but only 8988 were housed. Many of those who miss out are women and children fleeing family violence. And rental affordability in Victoria is getting worse.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/fairer-housing-shoul…
# Australia, Domestic violence, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Homelessness, Housing market, Women.Tweed River caravan park residents devastated by muddy mess from 'biblical' flood near Queensland border
Tara Cassidy ABC (No paywall)Tweed Ski Lodge Caravan Park resident John Rawlings is still reeling from the devastation of this week's flood on the Tweed River just south of the Queensland border. He has lived in the caravan park for more than a decade but has never seen anything like this flood. "It's an absolute disaster area … it's been biblical, epic," he said. "Water came up to my window, I copped it bad, lost most of my material things in my life." Volunteers have spent much of today cleaning out his home and belongings in an effort to save what they could.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-05/tweed-caravan-park-devast…
# NSW, Land lease communities, Regional NSW.More families facing homelessness as SA rent prices soar and vacancy rates plummet
Rebecca Puddy and Sara Tomevska ABC (No paywall)While most dread the daily grind of house chores, Jenna dreams of placing her hands in sudsy dishwater in her own kitchen and hanging her children's clothes to dry on the line. Their rental lease expired in early January, and now they have nowhere to call home. Instead, Jenna's family have moved around South Australia's Riverland, staying at friends' houses and caravan parks. ... They are just one of many families living through Australia's private rental crisis – where a perfect storm of increased demand and low vacancies is pricing many out of the market. They are staying at a friend's house for now, but the constant uncertainty and expense of moving is wearing the family down. Next month, Jenna said she was planning on pitching a large tent for the family to stay in along the edge of the River Murray. ... Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute managing director Michael Fotheringham said Australia's housing woes had been a long time coming, but COVID-19 had made things worse. "The housing challenges we have today have taken a generation or more to develop — they're not going to be fixed this week," Dr Fotheringham said. ... "Rental vacancies all over the country have fallen through the floor — virtually every part of the country had below one per cent vacancy rates late last year," he said. "During 2020 we saw a whole lot of stock that had been on short term lending platforms like Airbnb moved into the private rental market for 12-month leases but in the second half of last year and into this year a lot of it has gone thundering back into short term lending because the cash return is potentially much stronger."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-07/sa-holder-housing-crisis/…
# Australia, Rent, Homelessness, Housing market, Short-term holiday letting.Insurance giants back planning debate as flood costs mount
Clancy Yeates The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Insurance giants IAG and QBE are calling for a debate about the planning and development of housing in flood-prone areas, as the industry faces a long-term rise in costs from natural disasters.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/insurance-gi…
# Australia, Climate change, Housing market, Planning and development.