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
Melbourne's 69,000 “ghost homes” add to housing affordability woes
Simon Johanson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)In a leafy street in Blackburn, in Melbourne's east, a modern-looking residence with a curvaceous wooden facade has sat empty for a year. The three bedroom property is a "ghost home", one of 69,004 vacant or underused residential properties across the metropolitan area – many owned by investors and most not even listed for lease – that are adding to the city's housing affordability woes.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/melbourne-s-69-000-gho…
# Australia, Housing affordability.Eviction moratorium: Australia’s state-by-state COVID-19 breakdown
(No paywall)In September 2020, the six-month moratorium on evictions for residential tenants unable to meet rental payments due to COVID-19 came to an end in Queensland. However, the moratorium is ongoing in most other states and territories. (Rent.com.au)
# Australia, Eviction, Rent.What did COVID do to rental markets? Rents fell as owners switched from Airbnb
Caitlin Buckle and others The Conversation (No paywall)COVID-related travel restrictions and the sudden drop in tourism provided an ideal natural experiment to examine the impact of shifts in the supply of short-term rental accommodation. Our research, released today, found even modest reductions in Airbnb listings, as owners switched to longer-term rentals, increased supply of these properties. The result was lower local rents
https://theconversation.com/what-did-covid-do-to-rental-markets-…
# Research alert Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Short-term holiday letting.Focus on the land, not just the people: New push for Indigenous values to shape Sydney
Megan Gorrey The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)When the NSW government announced plans to redevelop the land at White Bay in Rozelle, many developers and architects saw a parcel of waterfront land in inner Sydney that was ripe for new construction. But Dillon Kombumerri, a Yugembir-Goori man and principal architect for the NSW Government Architect, said planning needed to shift from a focus on what the development would bring to the community to an Indigenous perspective that considers how it would impact the land.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/focus-on-the-land-not-just-t…
# NSW, Planning and development.“We're not nationalistic about it”: Sydney needs exotic trees, light colour buildings to cool down.
Megan Gorrey The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Planning Minister Rob Stokes says homeowners should plant exotic trees as well as native species around their homes as the state government pushes to boost tree canopy cover and combat urban heat across Sydney
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/we-re-not-nationalistic-abou…
# NSW, Planning and development.‘$7.5m to be spent on new social housing in Unanderra’
Greg Ellis Illawarra Mercury (No paywall)Construction is set to start in the New Year on two housing renewal projects at Unanderra worth $7.5 million. The two developments will deliver 22 new social housing residences and support 37 jobs.
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/7034016/75m-to-be-spen…
# NSW, Public and community housing.Tenant News NSW
Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)Check out the latest news from the Tenants’ Union of NSW
https://us3.campaign-archive.com/?u=29c79d2825cb376b3f0b06385&id…
# Must read NSW, Campaigns and law reform.Rents cheaper but still causing stress for those doing it tough
Nick Grim ABC (No paywall)Listen to Nick Grim on AM
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/am/rents-cheaper-but-still…
# Research alert, Audio Australia, Rent, Housing affordability.