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
House prices are falling and unlikely to rebound. Bring it on...
Jessica Irvine The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)There’s an adage that something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. When it comes to Australian home values, I would add “and able to pay”. And the importance of that addition is about to become abundantly clear to home owners as borrowing costs continue to climb. Not many have noticed it yet, but I suspect we’ve just passed an historic turning point in the prospects for property price growth, in which future gains will be much lower than in recent decades. I also happen to think that is a very good thing. ... Today, Australian housing debts sit at record highs compared with income. Why? Because every time the central bank made it cheaper to borrow, we went out and leveraged to the max to feed our property desires. And literally no policymaker saw fit to stop us. As a result, the Baby Boomer cohort now finds itself sitting on large gold mines, which their kids will inherit. But not all kids will be so lucky. And it’s likely to be a very different story for future generations.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/house-prices-are-fal…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, Tax, Young people.Queensland housing minister urges compassion after ‘appalling’ call to raise rents by 20%
Eden Gillespie The Guardian (No paywall)Queensland’s housing minister says it’s “appalling” that landlords have been advised to raise rents amid a rental crisis after a Brisbane real estate agent encouraged increases of more than 20%. Leeanne Enoch’s comments come after Guardian Australia reported that Ray White West End had sent an email to landlords urging them to increase rents by more than double the inflation rate.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/17/queenslan…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Housing market, Landlords and agents, State Government.Affordable housing legislation to come before parliament in next few months: Collins
Rachel Chun The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The first homes for essential workers and vulnerable Australians financed by Labor’s new housing fund will not have foundations dug and frames up until the end of next year. Housing and Homelessness Minister Julie Collins said legislation for the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund was nearly complete and would be brought before parliament in the next few months.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/affordable-housing-legis…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Housing affordability, Housing market.Housing association previously censured by regulator over short-term tenancies imposing ‘no fault’ eviction on family
Peter Apps Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Inside Housing has seen documents that reveal a family of five housed in Westminster are being evicted by [Kinsman Housing] at the end of a short-term tenancy despite having no rent arrears or any other problems. The family has a young baby and a child with special educational needs. They face homelessness as a result of the eviction.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/housing-association-previou…
# International, Eviction, Public and community housing, No-grounds evictions.From Romantics to 21st century radicals: Coleridge, Shelley and the roots of communal living
Fiona Sampson The Guardian (No paywall)Friends who have lived in communes tell me the worst thing is the endless meetings. All those issues a household bickers into resolution – who will sort the recycling, who finished the milk – are decided by committee. Yet from Findhorn ecovillage in Moray to the co-housing community at Postlip Hall, in Gloucestershire, Britain has more than 400 “intentional communities” or communes, and in the post-Covid era they’re fielding more inquiries than ever. Some people turn to co-housing to be able to afford a roof over their head. But many, according to the website of umbrella organisation Diggers & Dreamers, are looking for a more values-led, potentially unorthodox way of life. There are echoes of the 1960s and 70s experiments in communal self-sufficiency, when food was farmed organically, kids were home-schooled and some communities went entirely off-grid. But the roots of the movement go much further back than that. Also, check Sally Howard's earlier article entitled: 'Is the boom in communal living really the good life?' in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jan/17/is-the-boom-in-communal-living-really-the-good-life]
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/oct/15/from-romantics-to-…
# History International, Public and community housing, Share houses.Potty prices: Sydney studio apartment with toilet in kitchen on market for $520 a week
Mostafa Rachwani The Guardian (No paywall)If you ever needed proof Sydney’s rental market is completely insane, here it is. This tiny apartment – previously dubbed a “room with a poo” – is currently listed for $520 a week. The studio, in the inner Sydney suburb of Surry Hills, redefines open plan living with its bright red tiling in the kitchen, a polkadot couch, and a toilet – all in the same space.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/15/potty-pri…
# NSW, Rent, Housing market, Sydney.Margaret River Rotary Club frustrated by 'red tape' in tiny houses plan for the homeless
Georgia Loney ABC (No paywall)Red tape is hindering plans by Margaret River locals to build tiny houses for the homeless, the local rotary club says. It comes as housing shortages in the region leaves local workers competing with tourists for tent sites at caravan parks. The Margaret River Rotary Club (MRRC) is leading a proposal for the construction of 10 small houses, each with about 45 square metres of living space, at the historical Railway Barracks site. The club, with the backing of housing advocacy groups, wants to secure the lease of the land from the state government.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-15/margaret-river-rotary-clu…
# Australia, Homelessness, Planning and development.Yorkshire Housing secures £77m deal with NatWest to help fund 8,000 affordable homes
Justine Bourne (No paywall)Yorkshire Housing own and manage 20,000 affordable and social rent homes across 20 local authorities with plans to increase their portfolio by around 20% over the next eight years through providing more energy efficient homes. The new £77million funding package from NatWest will enable Yorkshire Housing to ramp up their efforts to decarbonise existing homes ahead of government targets through their retrofit scheme, which sees existing homes fitted out with sustainable technologies such as heat pumps and solar panels. (unlocknetzero)
https://www.unlocknetzero.co.uk/news/yorkshire-housing-secures-7…
# International, Public and community housing, Utilities electricity water gas, Affordable housing, Climate change.