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
NSW announces strata management industry reforms, including stricter rules on commissions and conflicts of interest
Linton Besser & Ninah Kopel ABC (No paywall)The NSW government has pledged to "stamp out bad behaviour" and strengthen oversight of the state's strata management industry in the wake of an ongoing ABC investigation that has revealed the systemic exploitation of unit owners and a widespread culture of kickbacks and secret commissions. Minister for Fair Trading Anoulack Chanthivong announced the reforms, promising to consult with the industry ahead of the introduction of new legislation in August. "These reforms are critical to supporting confidence in investing and living in strata schemes," he said. The changes proposed are to increase maximum penalties that can be imposed on strata agents, including for the failure to disclose "information about commissions", and strength the requirements to disclose conflicts of interest.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-25/nsw-government-announces-…
# Must read, Legal significance NSW, Rent, Strata.$250 per bed: Outrage at 'opportunistic' landlords in Sydney's rental market
Miriah Davis 9 News (No paywall)Opportunistic landlords are taking advantage of Sydney's spiralling rental crisis by charging rent "per bed" rather than per room, while potentially putting vulnerable tenants at risk through overcrowding. Dozens of listings plastered on Facebook Marketplace spruik beds in "share rooms" priced between $200 and $250 a week in sought-after locations such as the CBD and inner-east. One ad boasts two single beds in a Chippendale sharehouse at $250 each per week, with the option of adding a third person at an undisclosed price.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/rental-listing-highlights-sydn…
# Must read NSW, Rent.NCOSS Analysis: NSW Budget 2024-25
NCOSS (No paywall)NCOSS celebrates the substantial investment into social housing. Alongside our members and other peak bodies, NCOSS has been calling for this type of action for many years. While there is certainly more to do, we recognise the significant and commendable steps the Government is taking to create long-term change around housing policy in NSW. The $5.1 billion to build 8,400 new and refurbished homes, with half prioritised for women and children escaping domestic violence, is a critical step towards rectifying decades of neglect of the social housing system. Similarly, the $528 million in homelessness services is much needed and welcome. However, this funding alone is not enough to address the housing crisis, and other key areas of the social service sector missed out.
https://www.ncoss.org.au/policy-advocacy/policy-research-publica…
# Must read, Research alert NSW, Rent.David Koch Says Renters Should ‘Love’ Their Landlords & That’s Funnier Than His Five Joke Books
Lachlan Hodson Pedestrian (No paywall)Former host of Sunrise David “Kochie” Koch has used his newfound free time to write an opinion piece on the topic of who should be blamed for the ongoing rental crisis in Australia. In it he shared the controversial opinion that renters should “love your landlord” — proving yet again that comedy really was his area of expertise. In an opinion piece for The Nightly, the former financial journalist opened with a statement that tenants should not blame landlords for the skyrocketing rents, but the three levels of government.
https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/david-koch-love-your-landlords/
# Hot topic NSW, Rent.They’re the ‘cockroaches’ of Sydney housing. But what will terraces look like in future?
Julie Power The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)For NSW government architect Abbie Galvin they’re “the pillar of resilience”. For enthusiast and TV host Tim Ross, they’re the “cockroach of design”. The great Sydney terrace house is not only here to stay, but it also offers lessons that can be applied to today’s housing crisis. The NSW government will soon search for the terrace of the future that will address a shortage of low- to medium-density affordable housing in Sydney’s missing middle close to public transport and jobs.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/they-re-the-cockroaches-of-s…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent.Our cold, leaky houses barely fit for purpose, says UOW expert
Natalie Croxon Illawarra Mercury (Soft Paywall)Professor Tim McCarthy grew up in Ireland and spent two decades in the United Kingdom but it wasn’t until he moved to Australia that he experienced his coldest winter. The director of the University of Wollongong’s Sustainable Buildings Research Centre said older Australian homes performed badly in the cold, with those built in the 1950s to 1970s designed to promote natural ventilation for summer. They were also designed for a climate that no longer existed, he said, with more extremes now experienced on Australia’s east coast. So what we have is we’ve got very leaky houses from an air tightness point of view, which leads to them being very energy inefficient – very expensive to cool, and very expensive to heat,” Professor McCarthy said.
# Hot topic NSW, Rent, Utilities electricity water gas.The unusual political pairing squaring up against Labor on housing
Paul Sakkal The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Max Chandler-Mather and Andrew Bragg have little in common – except for a shared conviction that the federal government’s agenda on housing is behind the times and a weakness they can exploit. The energetic Greens housing frontman and the equally enthusiastic opposition housing affordability spokesman may unite to block Labor’s home ownership and rental policies when parliament returns next week. The parliamentary clash will mirror last year’s fight over Labor’s signature $10 billion building fund and, the pair hopes, expose frustrations inside the government about the scale of its housing agenda.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-unusual-political-pa…
# Must read, Hot topic, Legal significance NSW, Rent.‘Bad for the whole of NSW’: Inside the north shore’s NIMBY crusade
Michael Koziol The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Halfway through a council meeting on the night of March 25, it became clear Ku-ring-gai’s elected representatives were not against Premier Chris Minns’ housing reforms purely to guard their own wicket. They were on a mission from God. “I don’t want the state government’s plans implemented anywhere, not simply Ku-ring-gai,” said councillor Simon Lennon. “I don’t want them implemented in Newcastle, I don’t want them implemented on the Central Coast, I don’t want them implemented in Wollongong. “We don’t live on islands, we’re not behind borders. We move... This is not a matter of YIMBY or NIMBYism – because this is bad for the whole of NSW.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/bad-for-the-whole-of-nsw-ins…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent.