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
Is a short or long-term letting better for your investment property?
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)As so many investors bought property during COVID-19 in regional tree-change areas, many are now working out what to do as the pandemic, hopefully, subsides. ... “I’m lucky to be in the financial situation where I can enjoy a split between both places ... [Or] For others, it’s more of a choice between letting out their property as a regular residential tenancy – especially with the rental vacancy rate so low in many regional areas, and rents, as a result, so high – or putting it on a short-stay platform.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/short-vs-long-term-letting-…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Rental price increases in South Australia making housing unaffordable for jobseekers
Rebecca Puddy ABC (No paywall)A rental housing crisis is affecting some of SA's most vulnerable people, with low-income earners facing significant financial stress, according to the South Australian Council of Social Service (SACOSS). A cost-of-living analysis by SACOSS found rental costs had risen sharply over the past 20 years, outstripping any increases in inflation and the JobSeeker allowance. ... SACOSS chief executive Ross Womersley said a reduction in the amount of public housing in South Australia had a large part to play in the pressure being experienced. He said in 2000, public housing made up 10 per cent of the rental market, but today public housing constituted less than 7 per cent. "While much of the public debate around housing affordability centres on home owners and house prices, it is often renters that have the biggest affordability challenges, particularly those on the lowest incomes," Mr Womersley said. "Many of the levers of rental affordability lie with the federal government, but the biggest thing the state government could do would be to invest in social housing.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-23/jobseekers-struggle-to-se…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Federal Government, Housing affordability, Housing market, State Government, Work, employment.Sydney’s global city status ‘at risk’ from developer levy overhaul
Michael Koziol The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The City of Sydney council estimates it will be $650 million worse off by 2040 under the state government’s proposed changes to developer levies, a shortfall it says would endanger Sydney’s status as a global city and harm the state’s recovery from the pandemic. It comes as new Planning Minister Anthony Roberts hits reset on the government’s approach, extending the time frame for councils to provide feedback and promising to only proceed with changes that boost housing and infrastructure supply. ... Lord mayor Clover Moore said she was “quite frightened” by the potential impact of the changes. “It’s a really, really serious issue for us. If we don’t convince the government to abandon this proposal ... it could be a really desperate situation for the future.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-s-global-city-status-…
# NSW, Housing market, Local Government, Planning and development, State Government, Tax.A Slow Beginning for Plan to Move Homeless People Off Subway
Andy Newman and Ana Ley The New York Times (Paywall)On the first morning rush hour since Mayor Eric Adams announced a sweeping plan on Friday to remove homeless people who shelter in the New York City subway, the transit system felt a little different. ... At Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, outreach workers in orange vests, carrying clipboards, fanned out in search of homeless people to help. Police officers approached two men, one sleeping at the foot of a staircase, another lying on the floor, and told them they had to move. ... The outreach workers at Penn Station were offering homeless people the usual limited choices, generally a bed in a group shelter. And they were getting the usual no-thank-yous. Many homeless people refuse to stay in shelters because they find them dangerous or because they have extensive rules and curfews. [Read on]
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/22/nyregion/homeless-people-subw…
# International, Homelessness.Should you be able to know how much your neighbours sold their house for?
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Secret sale prices are in the spotlight after the Victorian government’s property market review raised the issue of uneven access to price information. In most cases, when a property for sale finds a buyer, the selling agent marks its online listing as sold and includes the sold price, but sometimes labels it “price withheld”.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/should-you-be-able-to-know-…
# Australia, Housing market.‘What have I done?’: How buying a mouldy house gave Linda a fresh start
Brigid Blackney Domain (No paywall)Although she insists there’s still work to be done, Linda Christall’s charming cottage in the Sunshine Coast hinterland has undergone an impressive transformation over the past decade. It was an unloved, mouldy “removal house” from Ipswich when Christall bought it and had it brought to her one-hectare block near Pomona (a small town about 40 minutes from Noosa), before embarking on a “hugely mind-blowing” overhaul – most of which she did with her own hands.
https://www.domain.com.au/living/how-buying-a-mouldy-house-gave-…
# Australia, Home ownership, Mould.‘Historic’ drop in supply of new Sydney homes prompts shortage warning
Michael Koziol The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sydney is in the grip of a historic drop in new housing supply, driven by a collapse in apartment developments, which could exacerbate the city’s shortage and push up prices just as population growth is poised to increase post-pandemic. ... Planning Department records show fewer than 30,000 homes were completed in Greater Sydney in 2020-21, down from more than 42,000 in 2017-18 and 2018-19 and well below the Greater Sydney Commission’s rough target of 36,000 a year. ... The Planning Department said it had approved 31 of 33 local housing strategies in metropolitan Sydney, but councils themselves were responsible for monitoring their progress against targets. “We recognise that housing affordability is at the forefront of everyone’s mind and the NSW government is exploring ways to help alleviate this pressure as a priority,” a spokeswoman said.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/historic-drop-in-supply-of-n…
# NSW, Housing affordability, Housing market, Planning and development, State Government.February 2022 News
Shelter NSW (No paywall)In this month's edition:
Shelter NSW priorities for the NSW Budget 2022-2023
Sydney Alliance Solidarity Seminars: Housing Presentation
Australia’s National Housing and Homelessness Agreement under review
Old school advocacy – Shelter’s Regional Housing report mailout
Shelter NSW submission - Draft Pyrmont Peninsula sub-precinct master plans
20 Year Vision for the Central Coast and Hunter – get involved
New Research! International Students Housing Survey
Tenants’ Union report – eviction, hardship and the housing crisis
https://mailchi.mp/shelternsw/shelter-nsw-february-2022-ebulleti…
# NSW, Eviction, Campaigns and law reform, Federal Government, Planning and development, Regional NSW, State Government, Students.