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
Australia faces national rental crisis as vacancy rate falls again
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Australian tenants face a worsening rental crisis, with competition for homes soaring as the proportion of vacant rental properties falls to its lowest level in years. The national rental vacancy rate fell to 1 per cent in March, halving year-on-year, with all capital cities now operating in a landlord’s market, Domain’s latest Rental Vacancy Rate report found. ... Vacancy rates nationally, as well as in Sydney (1.4 per cent), Canberra (0.5), Brisbane (0.7), Adelaide (0.2) and Perth (0.5), have reached their lowest point since Domain records began in 2017, and Darwin (0.5) is close to a record low. Hobart recorded a marginal increase, but with a rate of 0.3 per cent it remains one of the most competitive capital city markets. “In some of our cities it is like finding a needle in a haystack when trying to find an available rental,” Dr Powell said. ... Declining vacancy rates and rising rents were making it harder for tenants to find, and hold on to, an affordable home, said Tenants’ Union of NSW chief executive Leo Patterson Ross. ... “They know they are susceptible to being asked to move on and will have a hard time finding somewhere and likely face higher rent for a smaller place or have to move even further away.”
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/australia-faces-national-re…
# Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.What’s in the 2022 Budget for housing and homelessness?
AHURI (No paywall)AHURI News: Support for home ownership remains the focus of federal housing policy support. Although the 2022 Budget hasn’t focused significantly on housing and homelessness, the Australian Government is funding a number of ongoing housing and homelessness commitments.
https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/news/Whats-in-the-2022-Budget-…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing market.More disabled people live in social housing than any other tenure. So why are home adaptations given a low priority?
Paul Smith Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Social housing, more than any other tenure, is where disabled people live. Some 54% of housing association tenants have a long-term illness or impairment and 18% of new lettings are to someone with a defined disability. Yet 56% of those needing adaptations do not have them.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/comment/more-disabled-pe…
# International, Public and community housing, Disability.FOI documents show NT government previously forecast it would not meet target to build 650 remote houses in five years
Kate Ashton ABC (No paywall)Internal documents have revealed the Northern Territory government last year predicted it would miss its deadline to build hundreds of homes aimed at reducing overcrowding in remote Indigenous communities. The Commonwealth in 2019 agreed to provide the NT with more than half a billion dollars over five years to construct 1,950 bedrooms – or the equivalent of 650 homes — in a so-called "milestone" schedule. But letters and other documents obtained under Freedom of Information (FOI) show that, as recently as June last year, the NT government was forecasting it would miss the June 2023 deadline.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-05/remote-housing-nt-governm…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters, Federal Government, Housing market, State Government.Waterloo South – for the local community?
Andrew Collis (No paywall)WATERLOO: Last month, the NSW government’s redevelopment proposal for Waterloo South was placed on exhibition (until April 29). Since the redevelopment was first announced in December 2015 the process has been slow and frequently disrupted, leaving tenants hurt, confused, sceptical and exhausted. Despite “relocations” being a priority concern for tenants there is still no Waterloo-specific relocation policy. Community Development Project Officer with Counterpoint Community Services, Adam Antonelli, finds this “very disappointing”.
https://southsydneyherald.com.au/waterloo-south-for-the-local-co…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Estate renewal, Planning and development, State Government.‘Time bomb’: Housing problem costing Australia hundreds of millions every year
Sam Clench news.com.au (No paywall)A neglected problem at the core of Australia’s property market is causing increasingly disastrous consequences, new research shows. A dearth of social and affordable housing in Australia is costing communities tens of millions of dollars per year, and placing a “time bomb” at the heart of our economy. That is according to new analysis from Dr Andy Nygaard, an Associate Professor at Swinburne University of Technology’s Centre for Urban Transitions. Dr Nygaard’s research suggests insufficient investment in social and affordable housing is now costing the national economy a whopping $676.5 million in foregone social and economic benefits each year. And that cost is set to keep growing, to as much as $1.286 billion by 2036. ... [Kate Colvin, national spokeswoman for Everybody’s Home] said Dr Nygaard’s research showed a lack of investment in affordable housing was “pushing Australians into acute stress and dysfunction.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/buying/time-bomb-hou…
# Research alert Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Families, Federal Government, Housing market.Are Baugruppen the Answer to the Housing Affordability Crisis?
Lloyd Alter (No paywall)From United States ... Housing affordability is a widespread problem and it has only managed to grow during the pandemic. ... But there are alternatives to traditional homeownership, such as Baugruppen—the German word for “building groups” that refers to a principle of collective housing. (Treehugger)
https://www.treehugger.com/baugruppen-housing-affordability-cris…
# International, Share houses, Housing affordability, Housing market.Housing affordability for young people is beyond a crisis — so what do we do now?
David Taylor ABC (No paywall)We've hit a crisis moment for younger Australians on housing affordability. Record property prices forced many into choosing between committing to saving for a home, trying their hand in the stock market or just giving up on home ownership altogether. The whole point of labelling something a "crisis" is to set up a decision-making framework so we can effectively navigate an extraordinary moment.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-05/house-prices-affordabilit…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, Young people.