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
Addressing the affordable housing crisis
Judy Skatssoon (No paywall)Local government can play a role in addressing the national housing crisis by introducing incentives and requirements for new developments to include affordable and low-cost dwellings, a new report says.
https://www.governmentnews.com.au/addressing-the-affordable-hous…
# Australia, Affordable housing, Local Government.Mother of eight struggles to find new rental as prices spike across South Australia
Josephine Lim ABC (No paywall)Inside Natasha Malone's three-bedroom rental home are three beds in the front lounge room — for herself and two of her eight children. The single mother has been told she will need to find a new rental by December because her current place will soon be up for sale. In the meantime, her landlord has increased the weekly rent from $360 to $500. "I now have to say what's more important, having a house or medication? And currently it's having a house." ... She has applied for 46 new rentals in the past four months but has been rejected for every single one. "What the real estate agents are saying is that everyone's offering more, like $100 more a week, and if you're not in a position to be able to do that, it makes it really defeating," she said. "I'm worried that we're going to end up on the street and have nowhere to go."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-07/sa-mother-struggles-to-fi…
# Australia, Eviction, Rent, Health, Homelessness, Welfare, Women.'Perfect storm': new housing data reveals regional areas in strife
Neve Brissenden Illawarra Mercury (Paywall)Everybody’s Home, a housing solution campaign group, found in regional Victorian areas, rents had increased between six and 14 per cent, while vacancies dipped below one per cent. ... spokesperson Kate Colvin said as mortgage interest rates doubled many landlords would seek to pass the cost on to tenants. “Renters are in for a seriously difficult time as landlords capitalise on historically low vacancy rates to shift the rising cost of interest rates on to their tenants,” she said. “While the Victorian state government has invested in social housing, we will only start to see significant change once we see a significant promise from the federal government as well.”
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/7808703/perfect-storm-…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Federal Government, Housing market.'Chernobyl' green lawn in real estate ad for Adelaide house sparks questions about truth in advertising
Eugene Boisvert ABC (No paywall)An advertisement for an Adelaide house with an unnaturally green lawn has amused many online, but has also sparked questions about how much enhancement is too much when it comes to real estate sales.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-06/adelaide-real-estate-ad-w…
# Australia, Landlords and agents.Kalorama residents unable to rebuild after land deemed uninhabitable
Virginia Trioli ABC (No paywall)Kalorama resident Natalie Guest lost her family home more than a year ago when storms tore through Melbourne's Dandenong Ranges. She's spent the past 13 months cleaning her land and meeting consultants as she planned to rebuild. But in a devastating blow, Yarra Ranges Council has declared her block is too dangerous to live on due to landslip concerns. (BC Radio Melbourne)
https://www.abc.net.au/melbourne/programs/mornings/kalorama-land…
# Audio Australia, Local Government, Minimum habitability standards.Developer blames pandemic lockdowns for collapse of six companies
Simon Johanson and Rachel Eddie The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A large private developer has blamed government rent relief measures and the COVID-19 pandemic for the collapse of six of his companies that rely on rental income from commercial and residential tenants. ... “These companies were heavily impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic and [by] government policy, including rent relief measures for tenants,” Chen said. In a bid to limit the economic fallout from COVID-19, governments across the country banned landlords from evicting tenants suffering financial stress, instead requiring them to give rent relief and defer lease payments.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/developer-blames-pande…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Winter Shelter program means Clayton has a home after years living on the streets
Belinda Sanders and Vicki Thompson ABC (No paywall)For Toowoomba man Clayton Hook, sleeping rough was easier than asking for help. "I was a bit too proud to ask somebody if I could just be on their couch, stay in their shed," he said. Seven years is a long time to be on the streets in a place like Toowoomba, where the winters are harsh and unforgiving. "A lot of the time I would stay awake all night and just walk around of a night-time," he said. ... Then, Toowoomba's Winter Shelter program "saved" him. From June to August, the city's churches open their doors to the homeless to escape the winter chill. Now in its second year, Winter Shelter – which is backed by Lifeline and seven local faith communities – helps up to 10 people a night for 92 nights. ... With the help of the shelter and the local housing hub, Mr Hook is clean, has a small unit to call his own and has a job as a gardener at a local Christian school.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-09/winter-shelter-toowoomba-…
# Australia, Homelessness.Flood ravaged communities face clean up and cost of living pressures
Eleni Psaltis ABC (No paywall)With any major flooding event, the clean up is a dirty, daunting and devastating task but how might cost of living pressures slow the recovery phase? Guest: Joanna Quilty, CEO of NSW Council of Social Service
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/drive/flood-ravage…
# Audio NSW, .