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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
Student loans are getting bigger and hurting Australians’ chances of buying their own home
Stephanie Convery and Josh Nicholas The Guardian (No paywall)Higher education debts are now far more likely to affect personal or home loan applications as soaring student debt adds to the skyrocketing cost of living and housing pressures. About 2.9 million Australians currently owe a share of more than $68.7bn under the federal government’s Higher Education Loan Program (Help) – previously the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (Hecs). More than 1.3 million people last year each had student debts worth more than $20,000. Data from the Australian Taxation Office shows that over the past two decades, the proportion of debts worth over $10,000 has steadily increased. In 2005, the percentage of Help debtors who owed more than $10,000 was 47.51%. It’s now more than 72%.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/19/student-l…
# Australia, Home ownership, Students.NYC mayor scolds Republican governors after ‘traumatised’ migrant mother dies in shelter
Ella Ceron The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)An asylum-seeker died in a New York shelter on Sunday, Mayor Eric Adams said, as the city faces an influx of migrants sent by Republican governors from other states. The mayor said in a statement that the death “is a reminder that we have an obligation to do everything in our power to help those in need,” and pointed to a recently opened resource centre that has mental health services as an option for asylum-seekers. ... New York is currently exploring whether it can use cruise ships to house some of the migrants, among other avenues to mitigate an already strained shelter system. Advocates say such a plan would do little to help the actual problems within the city’s shelters, where the average stay for a family is over 15 months.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/nyc-mayor-scolds-repu…
# International, Homelessness, Race and ethnicity.University students turn to ‘contract cheating’ amid housing crisis and lack of support
Tory Shepherd The Guardian (No paywall)The housing crisis, cost-of-living pressures and language barriers are prompting university students to turn to “contract cheating”, where bespoke essays and assignments can be bought online, experts say. Cheating websites advertise heavily on social media, target Australian students and promise “ghost writing” work that will not be picked up by anti-plagiarism software.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/20/universit…
# Australia, Housing market, Students.Slapping a vacancy tax on empty rentals would have minimal impact on market: housing advocates
Lottie Twyford (No paywall)Imposing a vacancy tax on investors whose homes are sitting empty in the Territory would not have a great effect on housing and rental affordability, housing advocacy groups have said. Both ACT Shelter and Greater Canberra are concerned there just aren’t enough ”rentable” vacant homes in the Territory and say the Government would do better to focus its public sector resources, time and taxpayer money elsewhere. ... ACT Shelter, another housing advocacy group, also noted the impact of a vacancy tax was likely to be “modest”. Like Greater Canberra, the group did not oppose the introduction of a vacancy tax in and of itself. Research and policy coordinator Deb Pippen said supply was the big issue and vacant stock was only a small part of the housing affordability problem. (Rioact)
https://the-riotact.com/slapping-a-vacancy-tax-on-empty-rentals-…
# Australia, Housing market, State Government, Tax.G15 landlord hit with two severe maladministration judgements for damp and mould
Jack Simpson Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... In a judgement today, the ombudsman hit Southern Housing Group with two severe maladministration findings after an investigation found that a resident had made repeated complaints about damp and mould over several years and that the association did not provide a permanent fix. The landlord has now been forced to apologise to the resident and pay compensation of £1,095. According to the ombudsman’s findings, the resident repeatedly complained to the landlord about the recurrence of a damp and mould issue in the flat over five years. However the landlord failed to communicate effectively with the resident throughout and attempted to treat the issue every year by carrying out mould washes and repainting. This short-term solution failed to fix the underlying problem, and the resident repeatedly complained that the damp reappeared and was causing her children to become unwell, as well as costing her money because she had to throw away items damaged by the mould.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/g15-landlord-hit-with-…
# International, Public and community housing, Mould.Houses to be hit harder than flats by price falls, RBA says
Peter Hannam The Guardian (No paywall)Houses, particularly those at the luxury end of the market, are likely to be hit harder by falling property prices than flats or apartments, the head of domestic markets for the Reserve Bank of Australia, Jonathan Kearns, has said. In a speech on Monday, Kearns also said the RBA’s rapid increase in its key interest rate would “tend to depress residential and commercial property prices” but the wider risks for financial stability “appear to be contained”. While Kearns did not provide an estimate of how far property prices would drop – the central bank governor, Philip Lowe, said last week he wouldn’t be surprised by a 10% fall – he said higher interest rates would have the biggest impacts where “the supply of housing is less flexible, mortgage debt is higher, there are more investors and incomes are higher”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/19/houses-to…
# Australia, Strata, Housing affordability, Housing market.Bad to worse for first-home buyers, despite property price plunge
Matthew Elmas The New Daily (No paywall)Many first-home buyers hoped they would finally get a chance at the Australian dream when big banks forecast the biggest property price plunges in history earlier this year. But their optimism was short lived. Housing affordability is rapidly worsening as the sheer pace of interest rate hikes squeezes buyer borrowing power much faster than home prices can realistically fall.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2022/09/19/first…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.When it comes to cold, damp Wellington homes, the Sustainability Trust has seen it all
Kate Green (No paywall)From New Zealand ... A charitable trust which has been into 9000 Wellington homes this year has seen the worst effects of the cost of living crisis, with some families having to choose between heating and eating. Sustainability Trust chief executive Georgie Ferrari said so many poor health outcomes were linked to cold, damp homes. (Stuff)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/129904871/…
# International, Health, Housing market.