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
Multigenerational living: A strategy to cope with unaffordable housing?
Kate Choi and Sagi Ramaj The Conversation (No paywall)Over the past 20 years, housing prices in Canada have increased at double the rate of income growth. As a result, a growing number of Canadian households are grappling with housing affordability. Today, 10 per cent of Canadian households are spending at least 30 per cent of their pretax income on housing. At the same time, the share of multigenerational households has also increased by 45 per cent — more than any other family living arrangement. Most of these multigenerational households include grandparents and young children. The simultaneous rise in housing prices and share of multigenerational households raises the following questions: First, is moving in with aging parents a strategy adopted by young families to reduce their housing vulnerability? Second, who benefits the most by moving in with grandparents? Our study addressed these questions and examined whether moving in with grandparents may be a solution to unaffordable housing.
https://theconversation.com/multigenerational-living-a-strategy-…
# International, Share houses, Affordable housing, Families.‘Real problem’: The rental rights you need to know
Kassia Byrnes Daily Telegraph (Paywall)Amid rental price hikes and a cost of living crisis, more and more renters are finding themselves in a sticky situation and wondering what their legal rights are. ... So it’s no wonder that Tenants rights groups are reporting a sharp incline of requests for legal advice. In fact, the Tenants’ Union of NSW has received double the number of inquiries in the last year, according to SBS.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/business/real-problem-the-rent…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Rent, Tribunal NCAT, Housing market.Here’s how private landlords are playing a bigger role in public housing
Miriam Bell (No paywall)Increasing numbers of private landlords are leasing their rentals to the government for public housing, but the Property Investors Federation claims such arrangements cost too much taxpayer money. With 27,036 households now on the public housing waitlist, and many more struggling with housing insecurity, the need for public housing is undeniable. But decades of underbuilding, the net reduction in state houses under the last National Government, and the inability of the Government’s building programme to keep up with surging demand means there is a significant shortage.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/129306009/heres-how-pr…
# International, Public and community housing, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Tourism leaders call for short-stay property regulation as Daylesford housing crisis worsens
Rochelle Kirkham ABC (No paywall)Daylesford's peak tourism body is calling for Victorian government intervention in the short-stay accommodation market, to increase long-term rental supply. A lack of available and affordable rental properties is preventing struggling tourism and hospitality businesses from attracting new staff to the region. Tourism leaders say crippling staff shortages are affecting the visitor experience, with reduced business opening hours and workers under constant stress. Daylesford Macedon Tourism chief executive Steve Wroe said he wanted the Victorian government to investigate the most effective policy options to regulate the short-stay accommodation market. "The government needs to do some analysis on this and provide a report back to industry on what the best options are," Mr Wroe said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-17/daylesford-tourism-urges-…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Local Government, Short-term holiday letting, State Government.Paying a premium
Inga Ting, Katia Shatoba, Alex Palmer and Thomas Brettell ABC (No paywall)Insurance costs are set to soar for thousands of Australians. These are the areas facing the biggest hikes.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-17/how-climate-change-is-pus…
# Australia, Housing market.46,000 people in Sydney could fail to evacuate in future flood, report says
Lauren Pezet ABC (No paywall)Up to 46,000 people in Sydney could fail to evacuate if flooding comparable to that experienced in Lismore earlier this year strikes in the future, a report has warned. The findings of an independent inquiry, led by NSW chief scientist and engineer Mary O'Kane and former police commissioner Mick Fuller, will be released today after being handed to NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet more than two weeks ago. The inquiry will back plans to raise the Warragamba Dam wall, arguing it could save lives and homes by giving people more time to evacuate. The independent flood report estimates that by 2041 up to 46,000 people will live in high-risk flood zones in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley and could fail to evacuate in a one-in-1,000-year flood – like the one experienced in Lismore in February — and last seen in the area in the 1860s. The report says that increasing the dam's capacity could reduce that risk by "holding back floodwaters" and "delaying peak flows". Also, read Tamsin Rose's article entitled: 'NSW government to create a new reconstruction authority in response to flood report' in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/aug/17/nsw-government-to-create-a-new-reconstruction-authority-in-response-to-flood-report]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-17/nsw-flood-inquiry-raising…
# NSW, Housing market, Sydney.NRAS tenants face rising rents as affordable rental scheme winds down
Lucy Stone ABC (No paywall)Thousands of low-income renters are facing burgeoning rents as the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) winds up, even as the federal government launches a suite of housing policies to tackle Australia's housing crisis. ... "Tenants that may not have been considered homeless now fall into that category, because there is absolutely nowhere for them to go."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-17/queensland-tenants-face-h…
# Australia, Rent, Affordable housing, Homelessness.Disputes between landlords and tenants becoming common during rental crisis
Elias Clure ABC (No paywall)The rental crisis shows no signs of abating - in some parts of the country it has never been harder to find somewhere to live. While rents are going up, house prices are going down - pitting tenants and landlords against each other. (ABC 7.30 Report) Also read the article by same journalist 'Owner of seven properties says landlords getting a raw deal' at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-15/owner-of-seven-properties-says-landlords-are-getting-a-raw-deal/101329536]
https://www.abc.net.au/7.30/disputes-between-landlords-and-tenan…
# Australia, Rent, Landlords and agents.