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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
Australia's empty house problem
Hilary Harper ABC (No paywall)As the number of idle, empty properties in Australia ticks past a million, and vacancy rates continue to dip, local councils around the country are taking matters into their own hands to ease the housing crisis. (ABC Radio National)
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/austra…
# Audio Australia, Rent, Housing market, Local Government.August 2022 News
Shelter NSW (No paywall)In this month's edition:
New Minister for Housing and Homelessness
Parliamentary Inquiry into homelessness amongst older people aged over 55 in NSW
Shelter NSW sponsors significant Homelessness Week event
Planning matters - North Eveleigh ‘Paint Shop’ Precinct, North Coast Regional Plan review to 2041, Penrith City Council planning proposal, Pyrmont Peninsula sub-precinct master plan finalised
Sydney Alliance convention - 'Together in Dignity'
Tamworth Regional Council – Closing The Gap strategies
Next Members Meeting - 'Housing for Older Australians'
How well does your home support people with a disability?
Sins of the City? Regional housing under spotlight at the National Homelessness Conference 2022
Increasing affordable housing - Shelter NSW steps up to support local government
NSW Flood Inquiry – Report is now public
NSW Parliament Budget Estimates in August 2022-23 – key dates
https://mailchi.mp/shelternsw/shelter-nsw-august-2022-ebulletin?…
# NSW, Affordable housing, Campaigns and law reform, Disability, Federal Government, Homelessness, Local Government, Older people, Planning and development, State Government.‘They’re asking for change’: New plan unveiled for unloved Sydney suburb
Michael Koziol The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The NSW government has unveiled plans for a major redevelopment of a public housing estate in Riverwood, near Punchbowl, which would replace 1000 ageing units with close to 4000 private and social housing dwellings. But it is likely to face another round of pushback from residents over the scale of the buildings and the proportion of private housing in the redeveloped estate. ... The government has fought several battles over public housing, most notably when it sold off property at Millers Point. In this case, the NSW Land and Housing Corporation is promising all current public housing residents in Riverwood they will be able to return if a suitable home is available, unlike those in Millers Point who could not. The work will be done in stages over 15 to 20 years and is expected to generate about 11,000 jobs and $2 billion in local investment. The finished precinct would also have 4.8 hectares of new or upgraded open space.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/they-re-asking-for-change-ne…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Estate renewal, State Government.No place like home: Will Victoria get value for its $5.3bn spend?
Clay Lucas The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The Andrews government’s spend on new housing for the disadvantaged is historic in scope. But not everyone believes it will yield just results. ... Until three years ago, [Public housing tenant William Gwynne] lived there, in an apartment with river views. ... [However] the housing that once stood on the Northcote land will be replaced by private apartments spread over five buildings – four with river views. On 20 per cent of the land once entirely devoted to public housing, a separate building will contain 106 new social housing units; its view is of High Street. ... Urban planning academic Libby Porter, from RMIT, has spent years looking at public and social housing projects. She despairs over what has transpired in Northcote, which she labels “state-led gentrification”. “The replacement of an existing community of people experiencing disadvantage with luxury housing for the wealthy in Northcote is a contemptible act of public policy,” she says. “More than 80 families have been displaced so that a private developer can make a windfall and wealthy households can have a luxury apartment with city views and creek frontage.”
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victoria/no-place-like-home-will…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Estate renewal, Housing market.‘I’ll just rent you my house’: Byron Bay housing crisis the worst in the state
Catherine Naylor The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Christmas was looming when restaurateur Ben Kirkwood realised he had a problem. He had managed to find staff to move to Byron Bay and work in his eatery, but they had nowhere to live. Competition for housing was so fierce that young, often casual, hospitality workers had little chance of securing a lease. Kirkwood had to act fast, when the staff were told to leave their temporary accommodation to make way for peak-season holiday bookings. “I thought, ‘screw that, I’ll just rent you my house, and we’ll just go and rent something’.” He moved his wife and children out of the family home at the end of 2020 – and moved his staff in. “It was either that or we wouldn’t have been able to open our business every day,” said Kirkwood, who owns the Beach Byron Bay restaurant. ... [And] more than 15 per cent of dwellings in the Byron local government area were empty on census night, six percentage points higher than the state average.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/i-ll-just-rent-you-my-house-…
# NSW, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market, Short-term holiday letting, Work, employment.Building commissioner’s resignation letter reveals concerns about minister and Barilaro
Lucy Cormack and Tom Rabe The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The resignation letter of NSW building commissioner David Chandler has revealed he held concerns about the relationship between then-fair trading minister Eleni Petinos and the property development group that hired former deputy premier John Barilaro. The confidential letter, which has also been provided to the corruption watchdog, was released under parliamentary order on Thursday. It outlined a litany of Chandler’s concerns, including his “problematic” engagement with Petinos’ office, which influenced his decision to resign. Also, read Jimmy Thomson's blog entitled: 'Chandler letter blasts former minister Petinos' in 'Flat Chat' at: [https://www.flatchat.com.au/chandler-quit-letter/]. You can read David Chandler's resignation letter in full at: [https://www.flatchat.com.au/chandler-letter/]
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/building-commissioner-s-resi…
# NSW, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Minimum habitability standards, State Government.The battle for the ‘light greens’: How renters are reshaping politics
Michael Koziol The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Anyone who wants to understand the “teal wave” that upended politics-as-usual at the last federal election ought to study Justin Steele. He’s 33 and lives in a share house in Redfern, but has just signed a lease with his girlfriend to rent a terrace in nearby Darlington. They would like to buy, but prices make it impossible for now. During the week he works for a travel startup; on the weekend he runs his own business doing bar tours. ... Australia’s three biggest cities are filling up with Justin Steeles, say political scientists. They are tertiary educated, socially progressive and animated about climate change. They rent, but they want to be able to afford to buy a home. They are pro-development and anti-NIMBY, uncertain about the Greens, disenchanted with Labor and alienated by the Liberals. And they are increasingly powerful. There are now more renters in Sydney than people paying off a mortgage.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-battle-for-the-light-greens-…
# Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market, Young people.Queensland tenants under pressure as rents rise amid calls for compassion from landlords
Jemima Burt ABC (No paywall)In the 12 months to July, Brisbane tenants faced an average rent rise of 9 per cent for apartments and 13 per cent for houses. Throw in the return of overseas migration, low vacancy rates and a building supply crisis, and the state's tenants union says it is facing a rental crisis where landlords hold all the power. Cairo Sauvage is in his 20s and lives in a share house in Morningside with his partner and housemates. ... Mr Sauvage has a unique perspective to the rental crisis as a "rent-vester", where he lives in a rental but owns a home in the inner-Brisbane suburb of Windsor. ... [He says] "If the tenant is terrible, the landlord has powers based on our current legislation to kick them out. If a landlord is terrible, the tenant doesn't have much to fall back on." ... On Saturday, Deputy Premier Steven Miles urged landlords and agents to show compassion. "It would be disappointing if parts of the real estate industry were using those laws in a way that made people feel less secure in their homes," Mr Miles said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-14/qld-housing-rental-rises-…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents, No-grounds evictions, State Government.