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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
Tasmanian property investor drop 'a worry' for the rental market, REIT says
Guy Stayner and Isabella Podwinski ABC (No paywall)There are growing concerns a drop in investors buying into Tasmanian real estate could further shrink the availability of rental properties in the state. The number of investors purchasing a Tasmanian property in the June quarter fell by 20 per cent compared to the previous quarter. Out of 1,781 properties sold, just 16 per cent were purchased by investors, with even fewer Hobart properties (12 per cent) purchased as investments. "That's a worry," the president of the Real Institute of Tasmania, Michael Walsh, said. He fears properties being sold could be removed from an already tight rental market that has a current statewide vacancy rate of about 1 per cent.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-10/tasmania-property-investo…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Broome renters forced to sign leases they can't afford, or end up homeless
Tallulah Bieundurry and Vanessa Mills ABC (No paywall)Broome renters are "signing leases they can't afford" in a desperate bid to secure a home as welfare organisations warn of increasing stress amid the nation's housing crisis. "It's heartbreaking," Shelter WA CEO Michelle Mackenzie said. "People are really stressed because they can't find an affordable home. They're worried they're going to be evicted or the rent's going up. "People are signing leases they know they can't afford, because the option is homelessness."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-12/broome-renters-sign-lease…
# Australia, Rent, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Housing market.Victorian councils axe in-home services as aged care providers struggle to find staff
Zilla Gordon ABC (No paywall)Louise Craig had been using her local council's in-home care assistance for about 15 years, but this year the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council (MPSC) made the decision to stop the services, leaving elderly residents waiting for support. MPSC is one of 28 local government regions across the state opting to discontinue in-home care services.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-11/aged-care-delays-amid-sta…
# Australia, Local Government, Older people.Keep it all in. Storage units – in pictures
The Guardian (No paywall)Thin, tall, tiny: cupboards in all shapes and sizes for the awkward corners of your home
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gallery/2022/aug/07/kee…
# International, Home.Lost in the flood: Neighbourhood networks rise after water recedes
Tony Moore The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)People moving into Brisbane’s floodplain suburbs are left high and dry by lacking local knowledge to make decisions on how to prepare for the worst, victims of past disasters say. With one-third of Queenslanders changing address every five years, and renters and unit dwellers not privy to flood information given to property owners, groups are emerging to build a network of neighbourhood know-how.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/queensland/lost-in-the-flood-nei…
# Australia, Rent, Strata, Planning and development.Go west, if you can: desperate Sydney tenants priced out of rentals, even far from CBD
Mostafa Rachwani The Guardian (No paywall)By the time Rebecca Khadka arrived at a midweek inspection for a unit to rent in Homebush, she already felt as if she had compromised too much in her desperation to find a home. It is Khadka’s 11th rental inspection. Her expectations have shrunk from a three-bedroom apartment in Strathfield to a two-bedroom unit anywhere in the surrounding suburbs, and her budget has increased by $100 a week to $700. Her applications keep being rejected. ... Prof Nicole Gurran, an urban planner and policy analyst at the University of Sydney, said a reduction in rates of homeownership was a major driver behind increased competition for rental properties. “We’ve got a squeezing out of people who would have previously been moving into homeownership, and are stuck in the rental market, as well as those who don’t have the income support, and don’t have the budgets to afford rent,” Gurran said. “We’ve not provided sufficient subsidies for people to be able to afford decent housing in the private rental sector. So there’s been a chronic shortage of low-cost, rental housing in the right location.” “You now have moderate and low income families competing in the same market as those on solid incomes, and it’s squeezing them.” Gurran said that while increasing the amount of social housing provided by the government would alleviate some supply issues, she said expanding the commonwealth rent assistance program would be “the quickest short-term fix”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/aug/12/go-west-i…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market, Welfare.Residents at 82 Wentworth Park face eviction from NSWLAHC
Tileah Dobson (No paywall)Public housing tenants in a complex in Glebe are facing eviction after receiving a letter from NSW Land and Housing Corporation (NSWLAHC). The letter states that NSWLAHC is intending to redevelop the property and tenants will need to relocate somewhere else. NSWLAHC letter goes on to say tenants will have to undergo a Housing Assessment Interview, in order to gain as much information as possible so that they can “find a suitable property that meets your current housing needs.” The complex in question is 82 Wentworth Park, Glebe, a place where some have lived there for decades.
https://cityhubsydney.com.au/2022/08/residents-at-82-wentworth-p…
# NSW, Eviction, Public and community housing, Estate renewal, Older people.Council to start measuring success on housing list waiting lengths
Tim Clark Inside Housing (Paywall)Westminster Council [in London] is looking at overhauling its policy to ensure that success is measured by how much it has reduced waiting times for homes in the borough, a councillor said.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/council-to-start-measu…
# International, Public and community housing.