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
Where house prices have fallen and risen by the most across Australia over the past three months
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)The Australian property market has become a stomach-churning game of swings and roundabouts that still sees prices soar for homes in some areas – and dropping steeply in others. If you fancy an apartment in the NSW south coast idyll of Coffs Harbour, for instance, you might be in luck, with the median price falling 10.8 per cent over the last quarter. But if your dream escape is to a house in the sleepy Riverina town of Tumut, you’ll have to fork out an extra 15.6 per cent.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/where-house-prices-have-fallen-an…
# Australia, Housing market.Will this property price downturn be different to the last?
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)Australian property booms last more than three times longer than downswings on average and when prices fall they only lose a fraction of the gains made, new analysis shows. But economists say that trend may have come to an end and the current property downturn could be the steepest and longest since the 1990s as the days of rock bottom rates are over and households are more indebted than ever before.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/will-this-property-price-do…
# Australia, Housing market.‘We’ve all done the right things’: in Under Cover, older women tell their stories of becoming homeless
Zoe Goodall, Margaret Reynolds, Piret Veeroja and Wendy Stone The Conversation (No paywall)The Australian documentary Under Cover, premiering at the Melbourne International Film Festival, presents the voices and faces of older women’s housing insecurity. Many of us would have seen the figures: the number of homeless people aged 55 years or above increased 28% between 2011 and 2016. And single women of that age are the fastest-growing homeless group in Australia. But knowing the statistics is different from witnessing the reality. In Under Cover, filmmaker Sue Thomson depicts the stories of ten older women who have experienced housing insecurity and homelessness. They live in hostels, community housing, their cars, vans, caravan parks.
https://theconversation.com/weve-all-done-the-right-things-in-un…
# Video Australia, Domestic violence, Eviction, Affordable housing, Families, Homelessness, Older people, Personal stories, Women, Work, employment.People are shivering in cold and mouldy homes in a country that pioneered housing comfort research – how did that happen?
Rachel Goldlust The Conversation (No paywall)The poor state of Australia’s residential, and particularly rental, housing stock is attracting increasing attention. This week it has been reported many renters are living in unhealthily cold and damp housing. The head of UNSW’s School of the Built Environment, Philip Oldfield, recently described the average Australian home as “closer to a tent than an insulated eco-building”. A joint statement by more than 100 property, community, health and environmental organisations has called on next week’s meeting of the nation’s building ministers to increase the energy efficiency of new homes. The alliance wants to lift National Construction Code standards, such as raising the minimum thermal performance to seven stars, alongside a “whole-of-home” energy budget. The statement said Australia lags far behind international energy-efficiency and building standards. Also, read also the article by Michaela Lang, Rob Raven and Ruth Lane entitled: '‘I’ve never actually met them’: what will motivate landlords to fix cold and costly homes for renters?' in 'The Conversation' at: [https://theconversation.com/ive-never-actually-met-them-what-will-motivate-landlords-to-fix-cold-and-costly-homes-for-renters-188827]
https://theconversation.com/people-are-shivering-in-cold-and-mou…
# Must read Australia, Rent, Utilities electricity water gas, Climate change, Health, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Minimum habitability standards, Mould, State Government.Demolition job: the Liberal party war surrounding NSW building commissioner’s exit
Anne Davies The Guardian (No paywall)David Chandler, a tough-talking 40-year veteran of the New South Wales construction industry, had reached the end of his tether when he resigned abruptly as the state’s building commissioner in July. The man responsible for getting developers to fix unsafe buildings felt he had endured attacks on his character, a smear campaign swirling through the corridors of state parliament, lobbying by former ministers and a deteriorating relationship with his own minister. His resignation letter, tabled in parliament last week, pulled no punches, revealing that he felt “a functional and trusted relationship” with previous ministers and their offices fell apart once Eleni Petinos became the fair trading minister in December 2021.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/aug/20/demolitio…
# NSW, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards, State Government.Nowhere to go: Desperate Illawarra family living out of car amid housing crisis
Natalie Croxon Illawarra Mercury (Paywall)Warren Doyle and his sons Cori, 15, and Troy, 17, are living out of their car. Like most parents, Illawarra man Warren Doyle loves his two sons and wants to provide the best start in life for them. But Mr Doyle is struggling to do that because he and his boys – 17-year-old Troy and Cori, 15 – are living out of their car with their two dogs, Noddy and companion dog Sammy, and they cannot find somewhere proper to live. Mr Doyle left his last rental over a dispute with the landlord and stayed with friends for a while, but had to move out. ... He said he put in 86 applications and none of them came to fruition. Mr Doyle said he had also struggled to get assistance with government housing. Plus, he receives the disability support pension so he does not have the income for many properties. ... Adding to the stress is the recent discovery that mould has taken hold of many of their belongings, which are in storage.
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/7851219/nowhere-to-go-…
# NSW, Families, Homelessness, Housing market, Mould, Personal stories, Regional NSW.Older Australians caught in pincer grip of rising rents and dwindling incomes
Fiona Blackwood ABC (No paywall)At nearly 80 years of age, Meg* realised she was "running out of money" and needed to take drastic action. She was spending nearly 70 per cent of her aged pension on rent and her small nest egg was rapidly being eaten away. With her lease nearly up and her rent looking set to rise from $390 per week to $500, Meg decided she would need to make a big life change. "I worked [out] that if I continued the way that I did for another five years I'd have no money at all and that was the scary thing," she said. "I decided to buy a caravan [to live in]." Meg will set up the van on a friend's property in southern Tasmania. She is looking forward to the move. "I guess I am a bit of optimist," she said. Meg said she is typical of many older Australian women, a "divorcee, very little super, small nest egg rapidly declining because of high rentals". ... Michael Fotheringham from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute said the private rental market is no place for people on an aged pension. He said retirement policies are framed around the expectation property ownership. "But for a growing number of Australians reaching retirement they still have an outstanding mortgage or they're still renting," Dr Fotheringham said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-19/80-year-old-turns-to-cara…
# Australia, Rent, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Older people, Women.Lawyers contacted about Chandler resignation letter one month before Perrottet read it
Lucy Cormack, Tom Rabe and Alexandra Smith The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The state’s most senior public servant contacted lawyers the same day he received the damning resignation letter of the NSW building commissioner, but NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet was not shown the letter for another month.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/lawyers-contacted-about-chan…
# NSW, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards, State Government.