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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
Got a rent increase notice? Know your rental rights and how to negotiate a better deal
Rafqa Touma The Guardian (No paywall)With rents skyrocketing, it’s more important than ever that tenants understand their options when dealing with their landlord. ... “When a renter gets a rent increase, they should check that they have been given all the information that makes it valid,” policy and advocacy manager at Tenants’ Union of NSW, Jemima Mowbray, said. ... [She] suggested speaking to other renters in your area. “It can be a lot of work, but go and talk to your neighbours renting a property like yours to get an understanding of what is happening with rent.' However, she warned that negotiating or challenging a rent increase can be “quite an undertaking”. ... [Chris Martin of the University of NSW city futures research centre says] most jurisdictions restrict rent increases during a fixed term tenancy, [but outside of this] "generally, all states and territories say that rent can be increased so long as they are not excessive to the general market level of rent comparable practice,” he said. The ACT is an exception: rent increases are capped at the rate of inflation in Canberra rentals plus 10%. Landlords have to apply to the civil and administrative tribunal to lift rent above this threshold. In NSW, Greens MP for Newtown, Jenny Leong, has introduced a bill to NSW parliament that suggests a similar cap on rents in line with the consumer price index.
https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2022/aug/11/rent-increase…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Rent, State Government.Northern NSW flood report probing government response to be released today
ABC (No paywall)A report from a parliamentary inquiry into floods that hit Northern NSW earlier this year is due to be made public today. Over the past few months, an upper house committee chaired by Labor MLC Walt Secord took evidence at a series of public hearings in the Northern Rivers and Sydney. Members looked into the response of various government agencies including Resilience NSW and the State Emergency Service (SES). The report will include recommendations on how emergency response strategies can be improved.
But it will not have detail about proposed buyback or land-swap schemes. It is understood this will be outlined in a separate much-anticipated report, which the state government is yet to publicly release.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-09/northern-nsw-flood-respon…
# NSW, Housing market, State Government.Are slowing house prices good news for Britain’s generation rent? Don’t hold your breath
Laurie Macfarlane The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... After years of watching homeownership slip further out of reach, it might be tempting for generation rent to greet the news of a house price slowdown with open arms. But it would be premature to reach for the champagne.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/08/house-pric…
# International, Home ownership, Housing market.Parliamentary flood report finds SES and Resilience NSW failed Lismore, northern NSW communities
Bruce MacKenzie and Lauren Pezet ABC (No paywall)A parliamentary inquiry has found the government agencies in charge of preparing for and responding to major flooding in New South Wales this year failed affected communities. Seven people died and thousands of people were displaced or cut off when floodwaters devastated the Northern Rivers region twice from late February. Despite calls from authorities to stand down, residents took to boats and jet skis to rescue each other from rooftops, and took with them axes and other equipment to cut open roof cavities in which people were stuck. Led by Labor's Walt Secord, the parliamentary committee took evidence at a series of hearings across the the state's north as well as Western Sydney, where floods also became deadly. Also, read Laura Chung's article entitled: '"Out of date, inaccurate and confusing": BOM, SES and Resilience NSW slammed for flood response' in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/out-of-date-inaccurate-and-confusing-bom-ses-and-resilience-nsw-slammed-for-flood-response-20220809-p5b8j8.html] Read Tamsin Rose's and Josh Butler's article entitled: 'Flood inquiry finds serious failures by agencies and calls for Resilience NSW to be scrapped' in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/aug/09/flood-inquiry-finds-serious-failures-by-agencies-and-calls-for-resilience-nsw-to-be-scrapped] Read the article by Lauren Pezet, Miranda Saunders, and Bruce MacKenzie entitled: 'Bureau of Meterology rejects suggestions it was unprepared for Northern Rivers NSW flood event' on the ABC at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-10/bom-defends-handling-of-lismore-nsw-flood-warnings/101315820]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-09/nsw-parliamentary-flood-i…
# NSW, Housing market, Planning and development, Regional NSW.Social Housing Gains Momentum in Hawaii
Stanley Chang (No paywall)aradise is palm trees and paddle boarding, sunsets and white sand. But for locals in Hawaii, life is hard. The housing shortage has made Hawaii the most expensive state to live in the United States, almost twice the national average. A 2020 study estimated that Hawaii produces only one-fifth of the housing we need. As a result, the median single-family home on Oahu cost $1.15 million this March. In recent years, other states have adopted a strategy of upzoning, or "gentle density," allowing homeowners to build more than one unit on a single-family lot. California allowed four units on most single-family lots statewide last year. Oregon and Maine have also enacted upzoning laws.
Hawaii has been down this road before, with limited results. Hawaii abolished single family zoning statewide in 1981 with the "ohana zoning" statute, and in 2015 Oahu adopted an accessory dwelling unit program to replace it. Yet by any measure, the housing shortage is worse today than it was in 1981 or 2015. Fortunately, there are jurisdictions that have actually solved the problem. Two of the best known, Singapore and Vienna, Austria, did it through social housing.
https://www.newsweek.com/social-housing-gains-momentum-hawaii-op…
# International, Public and community housing, Planning and development.Three things to watch out for when using the Bank of Mum and Dad
Declan Bowring ABC (No paywall)No queues, no paperwork, no PINs to remember, very few customers to deal with — it's the family-owned bank of your dreams and it has a name: the Bank of Mum and Dad. It was reported last year that 60 per cent of first-home buyers needed to borrow funds from their parents to get into the property market. And while doing so is hassle free for many, the seemingly easygoing arrangement can be where the danger lies. Brisbane lawyer Brian Herd specialises in elder law and often sees clients who have seen the bad side. (ABC Everyday)
https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/borrowing-money-from-parents-leg…
# Australia, Home ownership, Older people.Economists deeply divided over Reserve Bank's likely interest rate trajectory
Michael Janda ABC (No paywall)In one camp are those, such as the economists at Westpac and ANZ, who believe that the cash rate target will pass 3 per cent before the end of this year. ... Then there is the other camp of economists, represented by the Commonwealth Bank and NAB among the big four, who cannot see the cash rate getting above 3 per cent in the near future. ... [AMP Capital's chief economist Shane Oliver says] "A rise in the cash rate to 3 per cent or more would push total mortgage repayments [i.e. interest and principal] to record highs relative to household income," he observed, noting that the situation would be even worse for recent home buyers.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-08/economists-deeply-divided…
# Video Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Make a Difference food van expands mobile meals to meet increasing community need amid rental crisis
Emma Siossian ABC (No paywall)It's a cool winter's morning in the New South Wales coastal town of Port Macquarie and a group of locals have gathered to serve warm breakfasts and hot coffee to those in need or sleeping rough. A volunteer-run mobile food van is meeting an increasing need in the community, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and a shortage of affordable housing.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-06/food-van-serving-the-home…
# NSW, Rent, Homelessness, Housing affordability.