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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
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.If property prices are going down, why are rents going up?
Tawar Razghi Domain (No paywall)Tenants hearing talk of a housing market downturn would be forgiven for thinking they will get a break on the cost of their rent. While national property values dropped 2 per cent in the three months to July, on CoreLogic figures, and are expected to fall further, the rental market is heading in the opposite direction. ... Rents and property prices are diverging because property prices are largely driven by interest rates and the ease of securing a home loan, while the cost of renting depends on the availability of rentals compared to demand, experts say. So while the combination of rising interest rates and caps on borrowing capacity have reduced homebuyer budgets, the rental vacancy rate has plummeted to record lows around the country, leaving renters with few options to choose from and landlords holding the upper hand in charging higher rents. ... Tenants’ Union of NSW chief executive Leo Patterson Ross said there were not enough homes available for lease that suited renters’ needs two years into a pandemic, where space, amenities and good-quality properties are more valuable than ever before. “There are not enough homes that are suitable in size and location and in price and quality for the needs of the community,” Patterson Ross said.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/if-property-prices-are-goin…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.‘Uninhabitable’: The rental loophole letting landlords suddenly boot tenants
Amelia McGuire The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The number of renters receiving termination notices from landlords due to properties being deemed “uninhabitable” is on the rise, a tenant advocacy says. NSW Tenants Union spokesperson Leo Patterson Ross said the number of people who had contacted the union over rental properties being suddenly deemed uninhabitable had doubled over the past year. “One of the risks of complaining about the condition of a rental property is that tenants open themselves up to being slapped with an ‘uninhabitable’ termination notice or no-grounds eviction,” Patterson Ross said. ... In NSW, there is an obligation for landlords to abide by a set of minimum housing standards, but the obligation only begins when a tenancy contract is signed, not when their property is advertised. There is no regulation preventing landlords from relisting a property for rent directly after ending an existing lease agreement because it is uninhabitable.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/uninhabitable-the-rental-loo…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction, Landlords and agents, Minimum habitability standards.Canada’s housing crisis is getting worse. Taxing million-dollar-home owners can help.
Paul Kershaw (No paywall)From Canada ... One of the best ways to challenge this epidemic of unaffordability is by targeting the country’s tax policy. People talk about housing inflation like it’s a bad thing for everyone, but it’s making a lot of owners rich—and many of those gains aren’t subject to taxation. In fact, our tax system has sheltered much of the $3.2 trillion in added housing wealth that homeowners have pocketed since 1977. At the same time, younger demographics are contending with home prices that rapidly outpace their earnings, and competing for scarce rentals with rising rents. Our suggestion is to put a price on housing inequality—specifically, a modest annual surtax on homes valued above one million dollars. This isn’t a totally scary idea; most of us already pay property taxes. What’s different about our idea is progressivity. (Macleans)
https://www.macleans.ca/economy/why-we-need-to-tax-million-dolla…
# International, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, Tax.Build homes on public land to solve affordability crisis: Minister
Andrew Taylor The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sydney’s housing affordability crisis could be addressed by using public land to build homes for “people who make our cities work” including nurses, teachers, cleaners and hospitality staff, Cities and Infrastructure Minister Rob Stokes says. Stokes said a 30 per cent target for affordable and diverse housing should be considered for future projects on government land.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/build-homes-on-public-land-t…
# NSW, Affordable housing, Planning and development, Sydney.Australia’s regional property boom slows but housing stress still a major concern
Caitlin Cassidy The Guardian (No paywall)The regional housing boom is beginning to slow in trophy hotspots across New South Wales and Queensland after years of “phenomenal” growth, although overall the market is still outpacing capital cities. CoreLogic’s latest regional market update found 10 regions registered modest value declines in the three months to July, with beach and country lifestyle areas the first to show market weakness after record-breaking rises during the pandemic. ... At the same time, rental stress in regional areas remains high. ... Everybody’s Home CEO Kate Colvin said the greatest rental increases in Queensland and NSW in the past three years had been in regional areas, with parts of the Gold Coast experiencing a 15% increase.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/aug/17/australia…
# Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market, Regional NSW.Government heritage advisers lodge ‘strong objection’ to Barangaroo plan
Michael Koziol The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The state government’s own heritage advisers have objected to “unacceptable” plans to increase development at Central Barangaroo, saying it would compromise the heritage of the Millers Point peninsula and diminish Observatory Hill. The Heritage Council of NSW, an independent statutory body advising Environment and Heritage Minister James Griffin, agreed last week to lodge its “strong objections” to an Infrastructure NSW proposal for taller buildings in the final part of the Barangaroo foreshore, including a 20-storey residential building. Also, red Linda Bergin's opinion piece entitled: 'The only option for Barangaroo if we have any respect for our heritage' in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [ https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-only-option-for-barangaroo-if-we-have-any-respect-for-our-heritage-20220815-p5b9z1.html]
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/government-heritage-advisers…
# NSW, Heritage listings, Housing market, Planning and development, Sydney.