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
Rent arrears have nothing to do with tenants’ misspending
Kerry Starling Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Hyde Housing has commissioned new research confirming that tenants aren’t getting into rent arrears because they’re spending on the ‘wrong’ things. ... Rather than poor money management, all the evidence indicates that many households with low or fluctuating incomes, although close to the breadline, remain on top of their finances. However, they have low financial resilience, so are more vulnerable to falling into debt when experiencing an ‘income shock’ – something unexpected or out of the ordinary happening. This could be a sudden large cost, or an unexpected drop in income, like a car breaking down or a reduction in working hours. The safety net that exists to support our residents when this happens also has flaws; the five-week wait for the first Universal Credit (UC) payment is a significant driver of rent arrears. For many of those who claim UC to top up or replace lost income, rent day comes long before the first payment.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/comment/rent-arrears-hav…
# International, Public and community housing, Rent, Families.Housing crisis leaves opal miners with no choice but to live in a tent
Shannon Corvo ABC (No paywall)Opal miners Aaron and Skye Buschmann never thought they would be homeless. Their day job involved scouring the outback in search of the precious gems. "We've been through Coober Pedy, Andamooka and met some of the best miners in the country," Mr Buschmann said. "Been around Lightning Ridge, and just the beauty of digging opal, finding that colour — you can't go wrong." ... [But] the married couple have spent the past six months in a tent at Wilks Park, a floodway in the Wagga Wagga's north. ... Figures from campaign group Everybody's Home show the rental vacancy rate in regional NSW is sitting at less than one per cent. Rents have increased by 10 to 20 per cent.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-10/opal-miners-homeless-amid…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Regional NSW.Adam's hand-built throne shows life in social housing can be 'awesome', but finding a home still problematic
Dominic Cansdale ABC (No paywall)They say your home is your castle, but Adam Pippos may be the only social housing tenant in Australia to sit on a throne. ... After a serious back injury forced Mr Pippos onto a disability pension, he floated between temporary accommodation for two years. While there are around 3,100 applications for social housing on the Gold Coast, Mr Pippos managed to secure a home with enough space for his woodcarving passion. ... But he's one of the lucky ones, with housing advocates concerned that even people with full-time work are being forced to move into caravan parks or pitch tents in backyards.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-10/how-one-gold-coast-man-se…
# Australia, Land lease communities, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Housing market.Policy changes to boost housing diversity
NSW Department of Planning and Environment (No paywall)The Government is making it easier to build more affordable and diverse housing across NSW. Deputy Secretary of Planning Policy at the Department of Planning and Environment, Brett Whitworth, said changes had been made to the State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 to encourage more affordable rental housing in the regions, build-to-rent, aboriginal social housing and seniors’ independent living units.
https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/News/2022/Policy-changes-to-boos…
# New policy announcement NSW, Aboriginal renters, Rent, Affordable housing, Older people, Planning and development.NSW announces funding boost for social housing as rental crisis continues
Hamish Cole ABC (No paywall)The New South Wales government has committed an extra $7.8 million to keep families in social housing as rents soar in regional areas. The Community Housing Rent Program assists providers to supply subsidised rental accommodation to people on low incomes.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-08/nsw-announces-funding-boo…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Housing market, Regional NSW, State Government.Timeline: the 20 housing ministers since 1997
IH Reporters Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The transience of housing ministers continues. As Stuart Andrew resigns after just 148 days in the role, Inside Housing looks back at all 20 housing ministers since 1997.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/timeline-the-20-…
# International, Federal Government.More help for those seeking to buy their first home
John Collett The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The federal government is ramping up efforts to enable more young families, couples and singles to get a foot on the property ladder. The new financial year sees a whopping 35,000 new places released under the government’s First Home Guarantee (FHBG), up 250 per cent from 2021-22.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/investing/more-help-for-those-seeki…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership.Why falling house prices aren’t the good news that first home buyers think
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Home owners are rushing to refinance as mortgage rates rise, but their chances of getting a better deal could shrink as property prices fall. Home buyers who purchased close to the property market peak could find themselves in “mortgage prison” as values decline, experts say, because reduced home equity and rising interest rates hit their ability to refinance.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/why-falling-house-prices-ar…
# Australia, Housing market.