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
‘Heartbreaking’: US police investigate deaths of two people killed in shooting at Pittsburgh Airbnb party
Giulia Heyward and Emma Bubola The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Police were looking for suspects after two young men were shot to death after a large party in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, degenerated into a barrage of gunfire overnight, police said. ... Officials said the Pittsburgh party was a large, apparently unsupervised, party. Many of those attending were underage. The chaotic scene in Pittsburgh began around 12:30am on Sunday, Pennsylvania time, at an Airbnb rental, the police department said in a statement. About 200 people were at the party, according to the statement. You can also read a report on the same incident in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/17/us-three-separate-mass-shootings-easter-weekend] It reads: 'The short-term rental provider Airbnb issued a statement saying the person who had rented the home had now been banned from using the service for life. The person violated a company policy banning parties ... '
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/heartbreaking-us-poli…
# International, Short-term holiday letting.Make Renting Fair: Now it's time for our next organising meeting!
Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)Now it's time for our next organising meeting! It'll be happening at 6pm, Thursday the 28th of April, via Zoom - and you'll need to register to get the Zoom link. At the meeting, we'll be honing and prioritising our asks for the campaign between now and the March 2023 NSW election. Come along and join the conversation and contribute to shaping the Make Renting Fair campaign for the coming year.
https://mailchi.mp/tenants.org.au/make-renting-fair-making-a-com…
# NSW, Rent, Campaigns and law reform.A tragedy’: Waterloo estate overhaul ignites housing crisis debate
Megan Gorrey The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has labelled the NSW government’s long-running plan to redevelop Waterloo’s public housing estate with hundreds of private apartments a “tragedy”, ramping up pressure on politicians to provide more social and affordable homes to ease the city’s housing crisis. Moore said the revamp, one of the state’s biggest urban renewal projects, presented an “amazing opportunity for any responsible government” to build more social and affordable homes. She said the demand for such housing had “never been greater”, and was expected to rise due to the social and economic fallout from the pandemic. “We’ve got a housing crisis in Sydney, and if we can’t have social housing on publicly owned sites, where are we going to have it?” Moore said at a council meeting on Monday. The overhaul of the sprawling estate in Sydney’s south has triggered debate about the provision of social and affordable homes in the inner city, where vulnerable residents face a five- to 10-year wait for social housing.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/a-tragedy-waterloo-estate-ov…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Estate renewal, Housing market, Local Government, State Government.Renters spend 10 times as much on housing as petrol. Where’s their cost-of-living relief?
Joey Moloney and Brendan Coates The Conversation (No paywall)If the pre-election budget was designed to address the cost of living, it missed something. In an effort to help those whose wages aren’t growing as quickly as prices, it offered: (i) a one-off A$250 payment to income support recipients, (ii) a temporary increase in the low-and-middle-income tax offset, and (iii) a six-month halving of the fuel excise. But it failed to offer help to some of the Australians who need it the most. Australians only spend 3 per cent of their incomes on petrol. The typical renter spends more than 10 times as much on rent. After a minor and temporary reprieve early in the pandemic, advertised rents are again on the rise – up nearly 10% over the last 12 months.
https://theconversation.com/renters-spend-10-times-as-much-on-ho…
# Australia, Rent, Federal Government, Welfare.Australia enters a deep rental crisis
ABC (No paywall)SQM Research founder Louis Christopher says rental prices have increased 12-15% in many towns and cities in the past year. Rental vacancy rates are also falling below 1%, meaning many families will not find the housing they need.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4Cs7RapIfk&ab_channel=ABCNews%2…
# Video Australia, Rent, Housing market.Rents 'explode' across the country, as house prices fall in many Melbourne, Sydney suburbs
Rhiana Whitson ABC (No paywall)Rents have soared because of a record low number of available rental properties in a "crisis" that analysts predict is set to worsen. Capital city rents jumped 11.8 per cent in a year, after a 2.2 per cent rise in the month to April 12, according to SQM Research. Capital city house rents surged 14.7 per cent in a year, while unit rents rose 11.2 per cent. "The reality on the ground will be that many families, many young people will not be able to find the home that they actually require," Louis Christopher, managing director of SQM Research, said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-12/brt-house-prices-fall-ren…
# Australia, Rent, Families, Home ownership, Housing market, Young people.Quality costs more. Very few aged care facilities deliver high quality care while also making a profit
Hal Swerissen The Conversation (No paywall)You don’t have to look to far to find examples of poor quality residential aged care. Most recently, residents have too often been un-vaccinated, frightened, isolated, and have died alone in aged care facilities during the pandemic. It’s tempting to see poor quality as simply the result of extreme circumstances or bad actors behaving incompetently or unscrupulously. But these problems existed well before COVID. As the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety found, they’re built into the system.
https://theconversation.com/quality-costs-more-very-few-aged-car…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Older people.Boxed in: Sydneysiders hit with fastest-growing house rents in 13 years
Kate Burke and Melissa Heagney Domain (Paywall)Sydneysiders are paying $50 more a week to rent a house, with the median rental asking price rising at the fastest annual rate in 13 years. ... Those hoping the cooling conditions seen in the sales market would flow through to the rental market may be left disappointed, with independent economist Saul Eslake saying while prices were predicted to soften this year, as interest rates rise, it would not affect rising rents. “There is not much connection in my view between property prices and rents,” Eslake said. You can read a similar report about Melbourne by the same journalists entitled: '"Every time I get ahead, I have to move again": Melbourne rents hit record high' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/every-time-i-get-ahead-i-have-to-move-again-melbourne-rents-hit-record-high-20220413-p5ad4p.html].
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/boxed-in-sydneysiders-hit-w…
# NSW, Rent, Housing market.