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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
Average Australian renter paid $3,000 more last year, research finds
Sarah Martin The Guardian (No paywall)Australians paid an extra $7.1bn in rent over the past 12 months, with the average renter spending $62 more a week than they did a year ago, or more than $3,000 a year. The figures are contained in research from the parliamentary library commissioned by the Greens, as they ramp up their calls for a national rental freeze, saying the increase could instead have been kept in people’s pockets to provide cost of living relief. ... The Greens’ spokesperson for housing and homelessness, Max Chandler-Mather, said the research further highlighted the rental crisis which had led the party to call for urgent federal intervention.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/29/average-a…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market.How much it really costs to move from one rental property to another
(No paywall)The cost of moving house can quickly add up, and whether you’re shifting to an apartment or house locally or interstate, costs can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars in addition to your bond and rent in advance. To ensure you’re prepped, let’s break down the bigger moving costs – and some of the hidden ones you might not have expected. (rent.com.au) You will find the Tenants' Union's figures from earlier this year at: [https://www.tenants.org.au/blog/true-cost-eviction]
# Australia, Rent.Mini Budget: sector responds to Kwasi Kwarteng’s announcements
Alex Turner Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The housing sector has been reacting to Kwasi Kwarteng’s Mini Budget today. There has been criticism that the statement does too little to help people at the sharp end of the cost of living crisis, and while the announcement of stamp duty cuts drew a cautious welcome from some, there were also warnings that it will do little to solve the wider affordability problem. ... Polly Neate, chief executive, Shelter: “The chancellor has done nothing to help the 2.5 million private renters who are already behind or constantly struggling to pay their rent. Cutting stamp duty won’t protect those at risk of losing their homes, but it will push up house prices. Every day our helpline advisers answer calls from families on the brink of losing their home as they can no longer keep up with runaway rents or afford to eat. This Mini Budget is not going to ease the terror families feel, with the chancellor leaving housing benefit frozen at 2020 levels. The government has missed its shot today to prevent a rapid rise in homelessness. Allowing homelessness to rise will cost the economy more and ruin countless lives.”
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/mini-budget-sector-res…
# International, Public and community housing, Rent, Homelessness, Housing market, Tax, Welfare.‘A social calamity’: record-high rents push tenants across Australia to breaking point
Caitlin Cassidy The Guardian (No paywall)David and his partner had been living in their inner-Sydney property for only 12 months when they were issued with a 50% rent increase. They had been paying $800 a week for a three-bedroom home with a study, one car space and no facilities. Now, they were told, it would jump to $1,200. “Their justification was it’s in line with market value,” David says. “We said we’d be prepared to pay $1,000 a week, even though the air conditioning hasn’t worked.” The same week, they were served with a lease termination notice instructing them they had 30 days to vacate the property. “We’ve negotiated in good faith but they just want to kick the can down the road,” David says. “I don’t think either of us have slept properly for the last week. It’s really heartbreaking.” ... Kate Colvin, the national spokesperson for the Everybody’s Home campaign, a national coalition of housing and homelessness organisations, says landlords have passed interest rate rises on to their tenants. “Renters on modest incomes are bearing the cost of the national inflation challenge,” she says. “This is both unfair and unwise. We need to urgently expand social and affordable housing.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/27/a-social-…
# Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.We don’t want Sydney to be ‘based on what your postcode is’
Natassia Chrysanthos The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sydney has failed to produce enough affordable housing for its people but a renewed focus on its peripheral cities – in Newcastle, the Central Coast and Wollongong, as well as western Sydney – will provide a crucial opportunity to fix its inbuilt inequalities, according to the man charged with guiding the region’s future. Geoff Roberts, chief commissioner of the recently renamed Greater Cities Commission, said the pandemic had fundamentally changed Sydney’s future by normalising hybrid work. “We don’t see the CBD model, with everybody schlepping long distances to get to the CBD, as the way that Sydney, Newcastle, the Central Coast and Wollongong will develop,” Roberts said.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/we-don-t-want-sydney-to-be-b…
# NSW, Affordable housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Planning and development, Sydney.What is fuel poverty and how can landlords help?
Inside Housing (Paywall)This year’s cost of living crisis has hit social housing residents hard. Even with prime minister Liz Truss’ energy price freeze, homes will be expensive to heat this winter. Inside Housing’s Give Fuel Poverty a Voice campaign aims to raise awareness of the issue. Alternative link at: [https://www.iut.nu/news-events/what-is-fuel-poverty-and-how-can-landlords-help/]
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/sponsored/what-is-fuel-poverty-a…
# International, Public and community housing, Utilities electricity water gas.Tenants evicted after speaking out over privacy concerns
James Stephens 9 News (No paywall)When Grace moved into a rental property in northern Brisbane six months ago with seven other tenants, she realised she was being watched. "It feels so uncomfortable because you can't feel free to leave your room," Grace told A Current Affair. Grace immediately felt uneasy when she noticed security cameras installed in the living room and kitchen of her new home.
https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/brisbane-tenants-evict…
# Video Australia, Boarders and lodgers, Bond, Eviction, Privacy and access, Rent, Repairs, Tribunal NCAT, Landlords and agents, Local Government, Students.Ombudsman renews call for government apology to public housing tenants
Rachel Eddie The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Barry Berih wants the government to say sorry for detaining him suddenly for weeks when COVID-19 spread through some of Melbourne’s public housing towers, treatment no other Victorian community endured in the pandemic. Trapped in his unit at 33 Alfred Street, North Melbourne, one of nine towers locked down at the time, he helped organise the community response through Facebook and WhatsApp to make sure families had what they needed – a task he said should have fallen to the government.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victoria/ombudsman-renews-call-f…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19.