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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
Priced out of home ownership, could an entire generation be stuck renting forever?
Fiona Blackwood ABC (No paywall)Rapidly growing house prices and sluggish wage growth means many young people have given up on the idea of ever becoming home owners. Erin, 25, and Jack, 27, say once they pay rent and other expenses there's no money left over to save for a house deposit. The working couple see their future as forever renters. "[It's] incredibly bleak … there is a huge issue in general across Australia where housing is seen as an asset, not a human right," Erin said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-10/young-people-priced-out-o…
# Must read Australia, Rent.Can Australia end homelessness? Yes, we know how, but we must find the will to do i
Tammy Hand & David MacKenzie The Conversation (No paywall)The ongoing homelessness crisis in Australia is a complex social problem with multiple causes. Such problems are very difficult to resolve. There’s no simple solution – no “silver bullet”. Homelessness Week (August 5-11) briefly brings the issue to the public’s attention. A week later, the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute is holding the Australian Homelessness Conference. This activity is taking place in the lead-up to a new National Housing and Homelessness Plan. The Albanese government has promised to deliver this ten-year strategy by the end of 2024.
https://theconversation.com/can-australia-end-homelessness-yes-w…
# Hot topic Australia, .Alice Pennycott: Supply excuse wearing thin to justify no-ground evictions
Alice Pennycott The West (No paywall)It’s not news to anyone that more and more people are unable to access or maintain housing, and while an increase in affordable housing is fundamental to ending homelessness, the incessant chant of “supply, supply, supply” is wearing a little thin. Supply is important, but it’s obviously not a short-term solution (or even a medium-term one, based on the current pace). In the meantime, the Government hasn’t really looked at other measures necessary to end homelessness — in particular, the ways to prevent it from happening in the first place.
https://thewest.com.au/opinion/alice-pennycott-supply-excuse-wea…
# Australia, Eviction.Polish refugees forced to move 400km from Albany after 'no-grounds eviction'
Jamie Thannoo ABC (No paywall)For five years, carer Michael Roskiewicz and his mother Jadwiga lived in a modest rental home in country Western Australia. Out of the blue in March they were told they had 70 days to move out of their home in Albany, 420 kilometres south of Perth, without any explanation. Under WA tenancy laws, landlords can evict tenants without reason in what's known as a "no-grounds eviction". While other states are moving to ban the practice, including New South Wales, the Cook government has said it will not make any changes.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-07/no-cause-eviction-impacts…
# Australia, Eviction.Australian housing crisis: Rental advocate Jordan van den Lamb’s squatting campaign slammed
Brendan Casey realestate.com.au (No paywall)A controversial social media influencer who claims to be helping to fix the national housing crisis by encouraging the homeless people to squat in vacant homes has been slammed by a peak real estate body. Known as PurplePingers on TikTok and Instagram, Jordan van den Lamb has attracted an audience of nearly 250,000 followers across YouTube, Instagram and TikTok — and created a database of homes across Australia that have been vacant for at least two years.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/australian-housing-crisis-ren…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Queensland's Sunshine Coast has 13,000 short-term lets but just 745 homes to rent. Are online platforms Stayz and Airbnb to blame?
Jessica Black ABC (No paywall)Aaron Webb's street has a dozen Airbnbs. He and his partner — a teacher at a local school — rent metres near the beach on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. In June, the region had 13,000 short-term stays but fewer than a thousand homes to rent, according to data from Queensland University and SQM Research. Mr Webb fears they'll be pushed out when their lease ends. It's what planner and social economist Peter Phibbs calls "the worst of both worlds" — a holiday destination with a year-round job market. Stayz corporate affairs director Eacham Curry calls it the "coal face".
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-12/sunshine-coast-housing-cr…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Should we make housing a human right?
Richelle Hunt ABC (No paywall)Currently there is no specific legal right to housing enshrined in the constitution or federal legislation in Australia. In his new book Housing: The Great Australian Right, former supreme court judge Kevin Bell argues the real estate market exists to create profit, when it should be set up to help people. In this episode, The Conversation Hour team explores what a new way forward might look like.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/theconversationhour/the-c…
# Hot topic, Audio Australia, .Builders going broke are hampering efforts to confront housing crisis
The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sydney’s wretched housing crisis is one of the most difficult challenges facing NSW, but a major component in solving the problem – small to medium building companies – has been hampered by its own crisis. While plenty is being attempted to improve matters – the Minns government has promised a $5.1 billion housing package, moved to reduce impediments including slow-moving development applications, amended planning to permit medium rise near 30 train stations and warned reform opponents that NIMBYism was no longer tenable – failing building companies are now emerging as an unacknowledged threat to relieving the crisis.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/builders-going-broke-are-ham…
# Hot topic Australia, .